It Takes Saying Something to Get Something Done

I come from a line of people best characterized as reserved. We can be a tight lipped bunch. We don't talk about religion very openly, although we are religious, and we don't talk about politics very openly, although we have political opinions.  

These are my ways and I'm quite comfortable with them, but for all my reserved qualities, when I am put in a group and allowed to have a voice I almost always discuss, weigh in, compare and contrast, and give my opinion on things that matter to me. I have overcome my natural preference to stay quiet and unobserved because I know that if I say nothing, then things will happen according to what someone else says–whether I like it or not.

I saw this when I took college classes a few years back and had to work on small group projects. Because of my age, I purposely tried to hold back and let the kids speak first and steer things. And one or two kids would eventually lead the way and corral the whole group into doing things a certain way. It could be the most inefficient, dumb idea ever, but because they were willing to speak, while others were not, that's the direction the group went.  

I realize some people are natural leaders, but without collaboration and consensus and input from others, natural leaders end up simply dictating their preferences to the rest of the group, whether they are right or wrong.

In recent years I've done more and more local projects, like serving on a Tree Board and running a non-profit and carrying out projects on city land. I'm motivated to do these things because of my belief system and also because I just enjoy these things. But one thing is for sure, I wouldn't be doing them at all if I hadn't used my voice to speak. And yet I see so many people, people with voices, who sit at my meetings or other local meetings and who say nothing. Here's the thing, if we don't speak up, if we say nothing, then the course of things will be determined by the person who says something. Sometimes, it's no more complicated than that.

I recall being at a local meeting where the group was trying to come up with a name for themselves. I was not a member of this group, so I watched this process unfold. The floor was open for suggestions and yet none came forth.  Finally, someone suggested a name for the group. No one disagreed. No one posed another name. The name stuck. Interesting thing is, once the meeting was adjourned and people were free to talk informally among themselves, the majority of the members of this group did not like the name! But they're stuck with it because no one used their voice to disagree or to suggest another name. 

I often wonder about that situation and think–what was there to lose by making an alternative suggestion? For all the shyness, or awkwardness at public speaking, or remote possibility that someone might have laughed, what was there to lose?

Voices matter. It takes words and opinions to get things done in this world. We have to say something to get something done, to change something or to create a better idea. It's as simple as that.