LEGACIES: JOHN AHRNS: What is the sound of 
silence ... we'll tell you on Passport to Texas Legacies ... 
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Passport to Texas Legacies from Texas Parks and Wildlife

John Ahrns, a Round Mountain nature guide, tells about 
the rarity and value of silence amid the din of modern 
life.

"One day it dawned on me years ago ... I was about ten years old 
and I heard silence for the first time. All of a sudden I'm in New 
Mexico and it's silent. And I go, 'oh, that's silence I'm hearing.' 
You know, it's ringing it's so quiet. 

"And I realized, you know, most of my students on the preserve 
have never heard silence. So we have three different stops to 
where we just stop and listen. 

"You know, and I say, this is the deal: 'you get up in the morning, 
the alarm clock goes off; your mom comes in and yells at you because 
you didn't get up; you go in the kitchen and the TVs a going; so you 
go to your favorite park on the weekend, and you've got your little 
picnic basket, and this guy's got this CD that's playing, these 
people are laughing, and you wonder how on earth a dog can bark all day. 
And how often to you get to hear just silence. 

"And to be honest with you, outside of one day in my whole life, I've heard 
exterior noises, and that day was the first day in New 
Mexico, and I'm sitting there going, 'hmmm, that's silence, 
isn't it?'"

Our show is produced in cooperation with the 
Conservation History Association of Texas. Visit them at 
texaslegacy.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.