"When we shrink from the world, our souls shrink, too," writes Loeb. Do you agree with this quote? Explain. Are there times when you have stayed silent over a public issue? Do you think it's always better to speak out?
The world is a network, now more than ever; and when one part of the world suffers the rest does too. If a good voice is silenced then the roots wither. You gotta do what's right by you. Whether you shrink or not doesn't matter too much to me. I have found that sometimes it is just as vitally important to keep quiet as it is to raise your voice. Teddy and Amanda hit the nail on the head with knowing the time, place, and situation to make a stand. I have stayed silent in many issues when the conversation changes from a conversation to a debate to an argument and then the bickering strangles the communication. I keep my voice silent when I dont feel that it will be accepted.
As far as the soul, reaching it's potential, and getting familiar with the voice we share; I believe that to get to know your potential, you need to push your limits. That's goes both ways whether you are in a crowd all fighting for a cause or by yourself stopping a fight. Sometimes it's important to isolate yourself, to learn to be self sufficient, and then it's just as important to lean on a group of friends to learn how to depend on people.
All in all, part of what makes humanity great is the communication we share and the way we work together to achieve a common goal. It is our global network that helps to conquer disease and suffering, solve disputes, and preserving peace. It's like the redwoods that grow with intertwined root systems to support such large powerful trees, a tree alone would simply collapse and die, but together they are strong and stretch hundreds of feet into the air.
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3 comments:
One of my favorite qoute is "the greatest crime against humanity is seeing a social issue and not taking a stand against it". When you shrink from the world, when you do not take a stand against issues you feel wrong going on in your community, then you shrink in your soul too. this is so because as long as those issues exist, it will always haunt you that you did not take a stand against it.
In Loebs story about Derrick bell, if he had not taken a stand against the discrimination in hiring minority female professor, he might have kept his job but then,he will have it on his conscious as not taking a stand for his belief.
And i think Loeb nailed it in his statement that "silence is more costly than speaking out, because it requires the ultimate sacrifice-the erosion of our soil."
this i have experienced by living a system of government were you are not allowed to fully express yourself and that is a terrible burden to bear because you can not speak about issues you identify with. and this slowly eats up your soul.
I really liked that you included the idea of the world being a network. While we are all connected in some larger sense as far as we are all members of the human race we are also literally becoming more connected to each other with advances in technology.
Technology has revolutionized what we know. Even technologies as simple as the telephone are ways to disseminate information quickly, so that we know not just what is going on in our backyard but what is happening across the globe. Because we know what is happening, we can have an opinion about and we can change it.
Even more than just educating the public, though, the Internet has given people a voice who would have not otherwise had it. Prior to the Internet, only a select few, such as politicians, journalists, and celebrities, had a stage to present their ideas; with the Internet, though, everyone has a forum in which to express themselves. The Internet also allows people with similar ideas to connect, providing an even louder, stronger voice.
We are truly starting to create a human network.
I agree with your comment about connections within this larger network. I often wonder what would the world have been like if JFK had lived and the technology that we have now was happening then. What a different world we would have become! I also believe that some people may not speak up "verbally" but they can blog or text now basically communicating informally and still get their point across.
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