Maeve Higgins: Will Smith's slap was nothing compared to the big bang of comment it spawned

Years ago, I did a ten-day silent retreat. Since then, I haven’t stopped talking about it.
Silence is incredible, it’s calming, and it’s healing. Of course, knowing that silence is good is one thing, and being silent is quite another. When things get chaotic, I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. Sometimes that works, and I can put myself back into the hall I sat in for hours each day, surrounded by quiet. Other times I get caught up in the noise, and I join in, like a seagull screeching uselessly into the wind because all the other seagulls are screeching.