The Hush and the Rush
From the moment I begin speaking, it’s evident that I’m not a native English speaker. However, since relocating from the southern part of Brazil to Berlin, English has become my first language, not German.
Over the past decade, I’ve read most of my books in English. The older the book, the more unfamiliar words I encounter. Some of these words pique my curiosity and prompt me to look them up. One particular word that caught my attention was hush. I first encountered it in one of the classic works by Kerouac, titled „Big Sur.“ According to the Cambridge Dictionary, „hush“ is defined as:
hush - noun
a sudden, calm silence:
- deathly hush: There was a deathly hush after she made the announcement.
- hush falls: A hush fell over the room.
- mainly UK informal: Let’s have some hush, please! (= Be quiet, please!)
Synonyms
- still (NOT MOVING) literary
- stillness
In the context of the book, Kerouac uses the word hush to describe a sense of stillness, silence, or calm that exists between the noisy waves he observes while reflecting in the surroundings of Bixby Canyon. However, it also represents the finality he fears, whether it’s the peace of death or the emptiness of his own mind once the excitement of the „beat“ generation has faded.
The rush is more obvious and a known word. But what I particularly mean by it is our default state in modern society, constantly dealing with the current events, expectations, productivity, appointments, new technologies, the enhanced slavery called consumerism, and the desperation of comparison, trying to survive and thrive, whatever that means nowadays. On the other hand, the rush also represents the excitement and almost endless possibilities and opportunities we Western people have since we decided (or some folks decided for us) to optimize for our individualism.
There is always the rush, there is always the hush. Life is the relentless rush of the breaking wave’s ambition followed by the haunting, necessary hush of the tide’s retreat. Okay, maybe this is going too far.
Back to reality, I’m trying to fill this space with reflections, learnings, and ideas from both the hush and the rush and everything in between. I hope you enjoy!