By Ray Miranda

Two guys are walking in the heart of New York City. As you can imagine they hear honking horns, the sounds of cars moving, people talking – really, just a whole at once. As one guy talks, he notices the other looks like his mind is wandering. He’s looking around, appears to be little confused and starts to slow his pace. “Hey dude! You good?”

After a 5-second pause. “I hear a cricket.”

“Say what? Nah man, I doubt there is a cricket here in the city and if there is, how are you going to hear it over (as he points) that guy yelling at that guy?”

With a little smirk, he says, “I’m telling you, there is a cricket around here somewhere. I grew up in the country and I know what I’m hearing.”

“I grew up in the city and only time I hear crickets is after I tell a joke.”

The other guy pauses, looks at him and says, “Okay, that was pretty funny.” He starts to look around…

“Growing up in the country, I always enjoyed how the only sounds we’d hear would be the sounds of the animals, the bugs and whatever the wind blew. For some reason, I always liked listening to the crickets. Well, unless it was coming from inside the house – ha!” And then he says, “It’s strange, I still don’t know how they make that sound.”

The once “country boy” starts to follow the sound and he notices there is a small area with some grass, bushes and few trees. The other guy still doesn’t hear it but starts looking too.

And suddenly – “YES!!! I knew it! There is that lil sucker.”

“Dude!” Looking around – “how in the world did you hear that little fella with all this other noise?” The other guy just smiles. They talk for a minute; they both look around and then they start walking back into the city. 

Later that night – “Hey man, it was a good time today. I was thinking about your question?”

“Agreed – let’s do it again. What question?” “You asked me – how I could possibly hear the cricket in the middle of all that noise?” “Oh, that’s right?” Realizing it would be too long a text – he calls him and says,

“I’ve been thinking about this, I’m a country boy at heart – always have been, always will be. For me, when I think of where I grew up, I remember my parents, my friends. I remember cookouts, throwing rocks, fishing, watching tv – you know, just every day, awesome and underappreciated stuff. When I heard the cricket, all of that came back in a flash. Truth is, the older I get, the more this happens. The more this happens, the more I appreciate where I came from and I also appreciate life now. So, I suppose, without knowing it, I’m on the lookout for these types of things. So, I have your answer. I guess the reason I could hear a cricket in the middle of the big city noise is because I was listening for it.”

“What about you?” “What about me what?” “Well, in your life, I’m just wondering since you are a good friend of mine…what are you listening for?”

And for you, the reader, and me as well – maybe we should take some time to just listen. I think we’d be surprised at what we hear, even with all the noise around us. That my friend, would be good news.