Why We Speak

There is a great deal of chatter in the world. Talking heads, pundits, politicians, bloggers, people everywhere are chattering furiously - especially on the internet. Sometimes the volume and dissonance of all of their speech are overwhelming. There are so many channels in the world today, and as we flip through them with our various remote controls, it is bewildering how little good there is on those channels. Don't you ever wish they would all stop talking and listen to you once in a while? This is a place where speech matters, and where you can speak.

Speech matters. We speak to let it out. We speak to be heard. We speak to convince. We speak to educate. We speak to find agreement and community. We speak to change the world. So speak. And listen.

We speak to speak. At its root, speech is a human need, an end in itself. We speak to let it out. Our thoughts and ideas, our feelings and experiences need to find their way out. At some fundamental level, it does not even matter if anyone hears. We just need to speak. If we hold it in, if we stop speaking, we stew. The pressure builds and we must release it by speaking, by sharing. We speak to express ourselves. Our expression is ours alone. What we think and feel and say is fundamental to our identity, our individuality. As we speak we share ourselves, but we also realize ourselves through our expression. Have you ever felt freed and enlarged by finally put words to a feeling or idea that had long been nascent in your heart or mind? To cease free speech, to be silent, to be mute is to be less than human. If a person speaks in the forest and nobody else hears, did they speak? Absolutely!

We speak to be heard, to be listened to, to be understood, and to be known. It does not always work. But we try over and over again to really communicate, to commune with someone. We speak to know we are not alone. There are so many people out there, but it often feels difficult to find a satisfying, listening audience for our thoughts and feelings, for our words. Of course, it really helps if we learn to listen as well as speak. Communion works best when we take turns and build together - speaking and listening.

We speak to convince. We strive to convert others to our views, our visions, our understandings. Often this brings us into debate, which can be unfulfilling, and can degenerate into more painful arguments. But public debates have rules for good reasons. Remember that you do not debate to convince your opponent. You debate in order to convince your audience. Those who hear you will not be convinced by vulgarity, personal attacks, shouting or violence. They will be convinced by the power of your ideas, the reality of your experience, the intelligence and clarity of your rhetoric. And sometimes, perhaps you and I should be convinced by others. We ought to at least maintain that possibility.

We speak to educate, to be informed, to learn. We speak to teach. You have a lot to say and share; and much of it is good stuff that can benefit others. Some of what you have to teach came through hard-earned experience and long-accumulated wisdom. In speaking, and especially in writing, we learn as well. Through the process of expressing, writing and revising our thoughts, they flower and grow. As we hear the responses of others, our ideas and expressions are refined. In the best forums we also find ideas we had never supposed, expressions we had never heard before, views we had not imagined. In the best communication there is a kind of revelation.

Perhaps most commonly, we speak to seek resonance, to find agreement, to receive support. More than convincing or teaching anybody, what we really long for is to see someone smiling and nodding, then say, 'Yeah, I agree.' That is why so many people listen to talk radio, or go to church or to a bar, or sit in the lunch room. It's to speak and hear someone say, 'You got that right, my friend.' In those safe places we speak comfortably. We try out new ideas. We hear our thoughts reinforced in the mouths of others, and we believe them more fervently. We speak to find and build community. Is it surprising that people cluster together on the internet - and in so many other places - in order to repeat their shared ideas and ideologies to each other? At their root, communities are often just groups of people who keep talking to one another over and over again. They forgive the fights, and remember and recall again the stories they share.

We speak to change the world, because speech matters. We speak to organize, to attract supporters, to mobilize opinion, to shape politics and policy. We vote. We write letters. We read news and commentary. We respond. We speak to power. To speak is power. To be silent is impotence. Those who say your speech is powerless or that it does not matter are apathetic, cynical or craven. Perhaps they are all of these things. We speak to foster civil society and civil discourse. So speak! And listen.