Cicadas, Part I

The first time I went outside during the day I was greeted by waves of harsh, grating sound.  I thought, "This has got to be the WORST PA sound test that I've ever heard.  Why couldn't they pick something more pleasant?"  It was a strange PA test though, because the sound would fade in and out, and echo at irregular intervals all over campus.  It sounded like someone's memory being erased in a sci-fi movie, or a giant rainstick on steroids magnified through a microphone.  The sound was loud, consuming, and distracting, but no one seemed to notice it.  After several hours, I finally asked someone, "What IS that sound?"  The woman jumped and smiled - I got the feeling that she had forgotten how foreign the sound seemed at first.  Then she told me:

CICADAS.

A Bug.  A reasonably large bug, but really?  That level of sound was excessive!  It's smaller than the breadth of your palm, but the output of sound is phenomenal.  I looked it up on youtube to give you an idea of what it sounds like, but the recordings don't give a true scale of the overall VOLUME of sound.  It was deafening.  I had arrived in the dry season, when cicadas thrive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DOWm9IBGoY

I was at Waka one day looking at the jade work in the jewelry counters.  I love the color green and beautiful things - the variety and craftsmanship of jade ornaments is so interesting!  I was looking at various carvings and saw one that looked....just like a bug.  The idea of wearing an insect pennant wasn't innately appealing to me, so I asked my Chinese host about it.  She told me it was a cicada, but I still couldn't see why you'd want to wear a cicada.  Then she told me that many animals are symbols.  Cicadas are a seasonal insect.  During the dry season, they multiply and command the world's attention with their song, but as soon as the rains begin, they fade away.  To the Chinese, a cicada symbolizes biding time.  You may be silent now, but in time, the world will hear your song.  I found the concept quietly reassuring.  Maybe a quiet season in a person's life isn't due to their lack or inability.  Maybe it just isn't their season to sing.  But with it comes the promise your time will come.  Conversely, it also teaches your time will also go.  I like the idea of embracing the season you're in - you won't be there forever.