Silence - is it really golden?

If you really stop to think about it, it is possible everyone is fighting some kind of battle you might know nothing at all about because they are fighting it on their own terms. Most of the time, we can "create" some reason why they are so very stand-offish, too concerned about some things while clearly neglecting others, or just plain obnoxious about an issue. The truth may simply be they are dealing with a battle quite unique to them, yet quite similar to one we may have been fighting ourselves - just on different terms! "Words may be false and full of art; sighs are the natural language of the heart." (Thomas Shadwell) The truest of words may actually be those which are not really spoken, but remain buried deep in the heart of the one who is struggling!

I turned and witnessed something else under the sun: the race does not always go to the swift, the battle is not always won by the strong, bread does not always fill the table of the wise, wealth does not always accrue to the skillful, and favor is not always granted to the knowledgeable; but time and misfortune happen to them all. A person can’t possibly know when his time will come. Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, without warning the unexpected happens, and people are caught up in an evil time. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 VOICE)

We may not always win the race, but what matters is how well we have run it. What may also matter is that we know deep within that we don't run that race alone - there are others running right alongside us, even though it appears they are merely running their own race. "Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from." (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)  If all events are blessings, even the "not so good ones", then we can put into use each and every event - first in our own lives, then in the lives of those we run alongside.

It is an art to learn from the silence of another - for the very action which may not seem to reveal much on the surface may actually be speaking the loudest.  The events of life happen and we all deal with them in somewhat dissimilar, yet similar ways.  Each personality renders their own method of "attack" when the challenge faces them, but as much as we think our circumstance to be unique, solitary, or confined just to our little space in this world, it has a much bigger impact!  

What we must realize is that the silence one may live in at the moment really has a great deal of activity going on within that "zone of silence".  There are very few of us who are still living and breathing on this earth who actually will admit to the "action" within our silence - yet it is there nonetheless.  Races are still being run, although feet are not moving.  Battles are still being fought, although weapons are not drawn.  Bread is still necessary, although the body may look full to the brim for the soul can be hungry to the core.  Favor may seem to accompany a few, but who knows the attention eagerly sought by the one who remains silent in the frenzy of the moment?

Silence is not always golden - for sometimes it may be marred with dirt, covered in crud, and littered with offensive clutter.  We cannot judge the silence of another as "meaning" this or that - for only the one who has retreated into that silence really knows the struggle within. It takes an artful companion to draw from that silence the true meaning contained within the souls deepest of sighs!  Just sayin!