Speak with Conviction

We have forgotten how to speak. In an age of emails, text messages and facebook chats we have become silent. We have become careful in not offending any one and to speak in ways that are politically correct.  Long before technology brought this quiet to our lives I began to see the problem growing when we started pumping our own gas or making deposits or withdrawals at the bank from a machine or when we began scanning our own groceries. Sometimes I am dumbfounded when I realize that I am in a huge crowd of people and no one even feels strange to be oblivious of one another.

Remember when the gas station attendant came to your window and asked how much gas you wanted. You knew his name and the woman at the bank knew your name and gave your child a sucker. I was that child.


I can talk to the lady in the grocery store checkout line,  I will smile at the Walmart greeter and make eye contact with the people that surround me. I will speak with truth to those that I love. I am not afraid of their anger or dismissal of my convictions. I will be more frightened if I say nothing at all...for myself and for them.
While bunny Thumper's words are true,
"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"
there are ways to be bold and polite and clear.

Silence will destroy us.
For it is in our lack of words that we become more divided, cold and lost.