"WHEN SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLDEN..." in "THE WORDPLAY WARRIOR: The Plot Pieces Called 'Life' "

“Silence is golden, but I think it’s gonna kill me now.”

Listening to the beginning of Lifehouse’s “Am I Ever Gonna Find Out?” makes me think. That’s one hell of a familiar phrase. Some people (including you, perhaps?) believe in it. They think that ‘silence is golden’ will always save them.

In a way, it actually does. It saves you time and energy. It saves your life, because it keeps you well-protected.

Unfortunately, it takes away something else too from you. It takes your courage and sense of freewill away. It steals your ability to survive and express yourself more honestly.

Imagine this. You’ve been sick for a while. The problem is, you still look normal and healthy on the outside. It’s hard to convince people around you, unless they’re empathetic or such experts willing to help you to find the solution. Still, the choice is yours. Either you get help immediately or pretend everything is still okay, it’s up to you.

Others may think you’re just being weak. Whatever. What do they know? It’s not that they’ll automatically jump in to help you out of trouble, anyway. It’s just the same with other stuff.

You keep quiet when any sorts of cheating occur before you. You choose to look the other way, because you don’t want to get involved. Well, that’s okay. As long as it’s not your own doing and you’re not compromised by it directly, it doesn’t matter.

Then wait until you suddenly have to pay the price too. Wait, why you? You have nothing to do with any of that.

As a matter of fact, you do. This has something to do with you too. It’s the result of your ignorance and selfishness. You could’ve stopped such madness earlier if you’d really wanted it. You should have.

It’s your natural instinct to just want to save yourself and those who matter most to you. Still, if other people in your boat start drilling holes while you turn a blind eye, then don’t complain when you realise that you start drowning too.

Silence may be golden…to an extent. The rest needs to be spoken out loud. From there, we can do something more than just keeping quiet.

R.