Power of Silence

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Throughout life society and individuals constantly experience things, whether large or small that affect them in many different ways. These experiences can be good or bad, and many have the power to affect people’s lives. However one of the most powerful and important of these experiences is one that can go completely unnoticed. This powerful experience is simply thought of as silence, but it has a far more complex impact on life than anyone really realizes. Not only does silence have the power to affect the life of an individual, but it has the ability to affect whole societies, and even create change in the world.
In the article “The Way of Silence” (2014) author Dianne Aprile discusses the power and importance of silence in people’s lives and the impact it has on the world. As Aprile explains in her article silence can enrich people’s lives in many different ways. It can be in some of the simplest of ways, like just taking time to stop and enjoy life’s surroundings. However the moments in life that are enriched by silence can also be far more complex. Aprile asks readers to think of moments like the first time a mother holds her newborn child in her arms or a friend sitting beside another that is laying dying in a hospital bed. These moments are far more complex but without the silent unspoken connection between mother and child or the time of quiet somberness spent next to a dying friend, neither moment would be as powerful. As the poet E.E. Cummings said: “Silence is a looking bird. Not a singing bird. A looking bird. A bird observing, noticing, listening. Being. Here. Now” (par.4). Without taking these moments to be still and silent, people would not be able to take the same rich joy out of life’s many moments.
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...cially if they have any children. Also take for example the hot button issue of bullying in schools today. By making sure the person being bullied doesn’t remain silent but that anyone aware of the situation refuses to keep quiet as well, there may be opportunities to avoid many tragic outcomes among children today. For example whether it be the child being bullied or someone that is aware of the problem speaks out and attempts to get help for the situation; it could possibly change the child’s mind from committing suicide, or even worse committing a mass act of violence on their school. Even though many people may prefer to sweep these types of problems under the rug and pretend that they are not happening, they must persist in avoiding this mindset as to not allow the problems to grow to a point of no return.

Works Cited

The Way of Silence, Dianne Aprile(2014)

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