On Not Being Silent

Before you read what I have to say, head on over to Biblical Christianityand read what Dan Phillips had to say today. He says it well and he's making me think. After you read him, you can come back and read my thoughts.

Okay? My thoughts are going in 2 directions on this, outward and inward.

First the outward. When the kids want to talk about things, I listen. I let them tell me about school and TV shows and books and dreams and whatever is on their minds. They can tell me the same stories over and over and talk about the same topics everyday and I listen because I love them and even if I'm not interested in the topic, I'm interested in the people talking.
How much more should I want to listen to people who are talking about the bigger things in life. If someone I respect is talking (or writing) about the same thing for the fifth time (and not just whining or complaining but actually thinking) then maybe it's time to listen even more closely. Even if the issue isn't important to me, it is to him, and maybe by listening carefully I can find out why it should be important to me and what (if anything) I can do about it.

Then the inward: If the issues are big enough, what should I be doing? Listening is all well and good, but it won't change anything. The thing is, doing means work. It means knowing and understanding what's happening in the world that might affect my little world. It also means risking and being prepared for arguments and dissent. It's easier to talk about things that people agree about and to talk about the big issues in the safety of a group who agrees with me.
It's easy to rationalize silence, too. I'm a completely unknown person who writes sporadically on a blog with about 7 readers. I'm not about to change the world, and I'm not sure anyone outside of my little circle would even listen to me.
There's a bit of a poem, though, that's stuck with me for years. From "A Litany for Survival" by Audre Lorde:

and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So maybe it's time to speak up more and risk not being heard rather than risk not speaking words that need to be said.