On a somewhat different note, today’s quote is inspired, not by a long-dead philosopher, poet or statesman, but by a living singer-songwriter: the great Paul Simon.

Attending his 1991 concert at the football stadium in Prague in celebration of the withdrawal of the last of the Soviet military occupiers is one of my fondest memories. Who doesn’t know — even 34 years later — “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” “Homeward Bound,” and the delightful “Mrs. Robinson”?

But my personal favorite has always been one that remains as popular today as it was in the ‘90s — not only for the original Simon & Garfunkel recording and the soundtrack of The Graduate, but for the more recent, and most surprising, smash-hit cover of the song by David Draiman, lead singer of the heavy metal group Disturbed.

I am, of course, speaking of “The Sound of Silence.” And I’ve chosen just two lines from that song today because they sprang spontaneously to mind as I followed the latest agonizing U.S.-Russia negotiations concerning Ukraine.

Simon doubtless had something entirely different in mind when he wrote his lyrics; but these are my mental images of . . .

“People talking without speaking”:

* * * and * * *

“People hearing without listening”:

*. *. *

You see it now, too, don’t you?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/7/25