I don't know, but . . .

From an interrogation of Commander Nishino about the battle of Surigao Strait. His ship (the Shigure) was in the Second Squadron, and was the only survivor of that encounter with American forces. Apparently the overall commanders weren't talking to each other very clearly, and even after Kurita had been chased off and their overall time-table screwed up, everybody was instructed to go on as planned. Second Squadron got there four hours early and went in, and got mauled. Second Squadron's flagship blew up and Nishino couldn't figure out who was supposed to be in charge. Eventually he figured everybody was done for and headed out--the Shigure was just a destroyer.

On the way out he spotted Admiral Shima's force advancing in. From the interrogation:

A. About 0350 I sighted Admiral SHIMA's force advancing northward, while we were repairing the rudder.

Q. Did you communicate with Admiral SHIMA's force to tell him what damage had occurred?

A. I signaled to Admiral SHIMA by blinker because the telephone was broken.

Q. What did you tell Admiral SHIMA?

A. I signalled to the approaching force requesting them to identify themselves, as I was not sure but that they might be American surface units. The answer received was "I am the NACHI". I answered "I am the SHIGURE, I have rudder difficulties." There was no communication after this message.

Q. Why did you not inform Admiral SHIMA of the course of the battle?

A. At 1200 hours of the 25th I sent the following dispatch to Admirals TOYODA and KURITA, "The Third or 'C' Force has been annihilated, location of enemy unknown, please send me your instructions. I have trouble with my rudder, my wireless, my radar, and my gyro, and I received one hit." The reason I did not communicate directly with Admiral SHIMA and inform him of the situation was that I had no connection with him and was not under his command.

Q. Under such circumstances as you mention, was that the usual procedure? Was it not Japanese practice to exchange useful information between separate forces?

A. I assumed that SHIMA knew conditions of the battle and that he would get his instructions from his Commanding Officer, Admiral KURITA or from TOYODA.

Q. How did you assume he had learned of the battle in the entrance to the Gulf?

A. In my opinion Admiral SHIMA would know the situation by sighting the burning ships FUSO and MOGAMI, and by seeing me on a retiring course.

Q. That being the case, it was not considered necessary to give any other further information?

A. Yes, that is correct.

Q. Why was it necessary to wait until 1200 to send the message to KURITA and TOYODA?

A. Because my wireless was not functioning, and secondly I was busy with the air attack.

Q. At what time approximately did you complete repairs to your wireless?

A. I used my auxiliary wireless set, the "TM" set. This set had been in commission all the time. I probably could have used it earlier to send the message. When I sent the message I relayed it through Admiral SHIMA because of the short range of the TM set. Its range is about 150 miles.

From Anecdotal Evidence, a quote about clarity:

Primo Levi: “On Obscure Writing” (Other People’s Trades (trans. Raymond Rosenthal, 1989): “He who does not know how to communicate, or communicates badly, in a code that belongs only to him and a few others, is unhappy, and spreads unhappiness around him. If he communicates badly deliberately, he is wicked or at least a discourteous person.”

I caught part of an interview with a chaplain who wrote about hospice chaplains. I didn't expect the emphasis on silence.

She seemed to be saying that guests who were silent could give the patient permission to be silent also--to be silent with God and their life.

There's a time for goodbyes and making sure things aren't forgotten, and especially for trying to mend fences before it is too late.

Dave Barry wrote a moving column about his father's death, and his disappointment that the last words seemed so trivial. In the nature of things, the time of dying is generally not suited for long deep talks.

But silence means something. On the one hand we know of "the silent treatment" and the "I'm too busy to be bothered," but on the other hand there's the "The words have all been said already, and we can let their meaning echo through our time together."

It's easy to think of silence as like the empty spaces in one of the old Japanese prints. The emptiness has a shape and a meaning there, given it by the lines. But perhaps silence can also be a positive thing in its own right, a sign of a different kind of communication. "Be still and know ...?"

It turns out silence is hard to come by. Over the years I've met several people who talked as though they feared that they would stop existing if they stopped talking. As I sit here I hear the highway, the turtle tank filter, a ball game broadcast in another room--but all these are easier to quiet than the "drunken monkey." One has to try. "Be still and know ..."