Silence Is Not Golden

Sometimes so many things of a dispiriting nature happen so quickly, we can't absorb the intensity of it, let alone manage it adequately.

This can be personal or it may be our work that throws up curves. It may also be the cares of the world at large that press in on us - delivered through the news: televised, printed, or internet-beamed.

Whatever the source, there are times when we feel an intense need for silence. Not a monkish vow of silence, but rather a keeping of opinions to ourselves, as if voicing them will remind us of just what a pickle we're (all) in. We continue to live our lives and communicate the usual daily messages of family and camaraderie, but we keep our questioning light hidden, our speculations bland, and our fears diluted to insignificance before utterance.

This may affect us all. It certainly affects writers, including those in the blogosphere. Contrary to what may be general perception, bloggers aren't typically infected with runaway cases of the verbal shits. We as a rule speak through our blogs when we feel we have something meaningful to say, even if the meaning is just for us. Maybe especially if it's just for us. And if we can't express what we are feeling meaningfully, we fall silent.

I must say events of the world of late have been of the truly silencing kind. What do you say about what's happening with our government? With other governments around the world? How do you react when the most promising developments are bloody revolutions?

It seems that each day we've awakened these past few months has held nothing but grimmer and grimmer news for us. And it breaks our hearts to think too much about it, let alone comment.

We sit back and let John Stewart or Colbert spoof our miseries away, by letting us laugh at the absurdity of our situations. This is a salve to our distress, but not a solution.

As it turns out, neither is silence. By keeping mum and laughing it out of our system, we perpetuate it all, in a cycle of increasing depression, hopelessness, and ultimately apathy. Nothing can be fixed, it's all a joke, just live your life with your head down and keep on keeping on. But that is an insidious capitulation.

Rather, now is the time for all of us - bloggers as well as folk usually less forward with their opinions, to speak up, write your thoughts down, or go out and shout them from atop a soapbox in the park.

Whatever works best for you.

I promise I'll be writing, and reading, and listening.