if a tree falls in a forest but there's nobody around to hear it, did it make a sound?
– one being deaf doesn’t mean the world is mute
I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across this philosophical question,
“If a tree falls in a forest but there’s nobody around to hear it, did it make a sound?”
At first, I laughed it off because it seemed like one of those questions meant to make you think too hard about something so simple. But I stopped and thought about it deeply, allowing my mind to wander.
Which made me think, does the truth of something depend on someone's awareness of it?
Does something cease to exist or have meaning just because no one's around to witness it?
The tree falling is still something that has happened, even if no one's there to hear it. The vibrations, the crash – they all happened regardless of our perceptions.
All this made me think about other moments in life. The ones that happened out of sight, out of earshot – the ones we experience in silence – often went unnoticed by others.
It's like those quiet heartaches, silent battles, uncelebrated successes, and unspoken thoughts and feelings.
We have experienced those, haven’t we? We were too caught up with the noise of the world to notice them ourselves – or maybe we were just too afraid to share them with others. Perhaps, we told ourselves that they wouldn’t matter unless someone else saw, heard, or acknowledged them.
Ah,wala ‘yon
Hayaan mo na
Lilipas din ‘to
Okay lang ako
These were the words we’ve whispered to ourselves, hoping to brush it all aside. But just like the tree falling in the forest, those moments still existed. It all happened regardless. They were real even if they were not acknowledged, witnessed, or applauded by anyone.
Maybe that’s the point – things don’t lose their value or significance just because no one notices. The world moves, trees fall, and life continues, whether or not there’s an audience to see it.
It's a comforting thought though, isn't it? That our existence and the weight of our experiences does not rely on the validation of others. Our joy, pain, growth, and everything in between is simply valid because they happened.
So, maybe the question is not whether the tree made a sound. Maybe it’s about whether we’re willing to acknowledge the truth and value of things, even if it went unnoticed by others.
In the end, the world doesn't stop moving, the trees don't stop falling, and our lives do not have a pause button – all this, our experiences, will always matter, even if no one else is watching.
Just like the falling tree, our moments – whether loud or quiet, seen or unseen – carry their own weight and meaning. They don’t need an audience to be real. They simply are. That, in itself, is enough.
"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
