Silence

Ok, so what is there to share today? It seems as I get older, there is less to say. It either occurs to me that unless I have something of substance to contribute, or my opinion is sought, there's no reason to say anything.

All of the people in our little consulting company (Distinctions, Inc.) are younger than I and so often I hear myself thinking on our conference calls that I should just stay silent and let them figure it out, or argue it out, or find there own way - the voice-in-my-head says "been-there-done-that" or sometimes, "no biggy", meaning of course, no big deal, nothing to get all excited about, something like that. But then you knew that didn't you?

Now mind you there are times when I really do have something to say, and I do speak up. It's also a surprise to me that when I do speak, what I hear coming out of my mouth includes a measure of wisdom, sometimes a dry wit, sometimes a confronting remark, sometimes an acknowledgment of someone else. Not to toot my own horn, just the way it occurs for me. Nothing unusual or special about any of that.

When speaking with people I care about I also seem to see potential in them that they don't see in themselves. I talk to them as though my interpretation is correct and their own perception is m'shugana. In case you wondered, that's yiddish, and I'll let you figure out what it means.

Anyhow, back to speaking. So there's more silence in my head. In other words, less noise from the voice. It seems like I appreciate silence more. I mean it goes so far that I now wear ear plugs at night when sleeping, or when I go to a movie, or when in airports, or flying. Or maybe it's because the world was so, so much quieter when I was growing up, and it seems to have gotten so much noisier, I don't know. But I think whoever first said "silence is golden" was probably over 60.

Enough said. I think I'll take my own advice and shut up for now.