We have two ears and only one mouth. Listen twice before you speak.
Society will push you to react. Advertising, news, social media, everything is designed to provoke an immediate response. Confrontation is the currency. You will feel the pressure to reply, to take a side, to say something. Quickly.
There are people who speak a lot and say very little. You will meet them often.
Silence is a choice. When you are quiet, you are not absent. You are taking the time to think about a reply, and sometimes deciding not to reply at all. Silence puts you in the position of observer. You watch. You reflect on what has been said. And then it is your decision whether to speak, and which words to use.
When a silent person speaks, everyone stops. The whole room listens. Not because they are loud, but because their opinions are well thought. Deeper. Clearer.
Don’t feel you have to reply. Not everything deserves a response. Not every provocation needs an answer. When you reply to something that didn’t deserve it, you are ennobling it with your words. Sometimes silence is the best reply of all.
These pages were born with the same philosophy. I don’t write to fill a blank page. I write to distill something I have learned, something I have lived. The silence between posts is not absence. It is waiting for something worth saying.
With all my love, Dad
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