When did it happen? Did it happen one night after we all went to sleep? Or perhaps was it something we all saw happen but didn’t say anything about it. Sometimes we do face change in our lives. We have slow changes that eventually trickle down to our awareness, and we also have instant changes that take place right in front of us. In either case, we eventually become aware of the change.
What we choose to do after we notice this change is what is truly important. Now I’ll admit, sometimes we take notice that change is happening around us, but we may not want to admit it’s happening. And I know, it’s hard to come to grips with things we don’t like. But the fact of the matter remains, it’s happening all around us. Change is happening all around us. All day. Every day.
Whether it’s new pipes being installed in your apartment building: new. Or it could be Apple developing a new iPhone, as always, new. New babies being born, new. New can be exciting, but new is still the unknown. The things we don’t know tend to scare us the most. Like death. Death could be the most amazing experience our spirits go through and here we are in fear of it. It’s change. Whether it’s slow change, or immediate change either one will be pushed in a direction we favor or the opposite. The question here then asks, well what do we do when we don’t like the changes being implemented? Nothing, right? I mean, sometimes it’s better to know when not to speak. Because if you speak up, you might burn a lot of bridges, cause others to be angry with you, and it could not work out in your favor. So if that’s the case, then I should either silently or vocally agree with the changes that I know aren’t universally right. I then should be a news anchor, one who gets their position by following orders of what to say, how to say it, and when, and also when to keep my mouth shut. I should be a politician, one who gets fed hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars by the wealthy, powerful, and or well connected, and even corporations, to do as I’m told, agree with what I’m told to agree with, and say not what’s on my mind but what’s on their mind and their agenda.
Puppetry. The true result of silence. Because when we do not speak up, we say nothing and put nothing out into the world with our voice. When we say nothing, no one listens to us. And although they may not even hear us to begin with, we put our voice out there as a brick. And every time we do, another brick is added to the pile. Eventually, the more bricks that are put out there, they form something stronger than ourselves; a louder voice, an opinion, an idea. And no matter how much we are told to shut up, not say this, don’t think that this formation cannot be erased. The idea cannot die, because “...Behind this mask is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof.” - V for Vendetta (2005) And if we follow the mantra of saying nothing, it makes it that much easier to accept the duty to do nothing. And when we say and do nothing, we remove our ability to think freely as we confine our words and actions into boxes. And once we are in those boxes, the next thing we realize, those boxes are being put in the ground. In the end, if we say and do nothing, then we suffer a fate worse than our perception of death, we never existed to begin with.
