Don’t Fall Prey to Their Silence
You have a voice, and you deserve to be heard.
Oppression is often subtle. At all times, it hovers cloud-like above our heads, and the shadow it casts chills only those conscious enough to look up and see what it obscures: your right to be heard.
Your appearance, your age, your gender, and your belief system are not reasons for you to be silenced. Your feelings and your experiences are valid. You are a voice that deserves to speak up, to be heard. It is a human right, and something no one should take away from you.
When people are in a position of power — regardless of the reason why — they rarely have a reason to look up. Instead, they look down, and they frown upon anything that doesn’t fit into the perfect world they imagine below them.
The problem is not when they cast their shadow — there will always be individuals who believe they are superior to others — but when we fall prey to their desire for silence. When we stop speaking up. When we believe that our voice doesn’t have a right to be heard.
If you listen to the wrong voice long enough, you will listen to it instead of your own.
“The loudest voice in the room, sometimes, is the absent voice of the silenced.” — Andy Dunn
If something happened to you and you feel like you need to write about the experience, then you should write about it. Change the narrative. Grow stronger. Resonate with your readers, and relate to the voices listening to your own.
This is how we grow as individuals, and individuals are how society makes progress. We change the world for the better when we listen to each other. And you never know who might be listening — especially if you lose the urge to speak.
So consider the motivations behind your own oppressive cloud. What is it trying to hide? Why? Who does it benefit? And then ask yourself, what exactly do you need to say? Why do you need to say it? And how is it going to help you or others like you?
When you explore the answers to these questions, often the solution is obvious: Don’t shut up. Speak up.
Readers want to hear what you have to say. We can learn from your experience. We can learn from your wisdom.
We are there to listen to you, support you, and watch you grow into someone better than you were before. That progress, that change, can give people hope.
Can you give it to them?
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