D'you want to know something I find very interesting? Nobody, not once in my life, has ever asked me why I choose not to speak. They've given me strange looks. They've asked Phineas if I ever talk. A few ruder persons have even said things such as, "Now, don't feel like you have to give me an actual answer or anything." But nobody has ever actually put me to the question. They either accept me, or reject me, as I am. They never question any of it.
They're silly not to. Questioning things is how one understands the world. If you don't ask questions, you don't get answers, and if you don't get answers, you can never fully understand, now can you?
If anybody was ever intelligent enough to ask me that unspoken question, I'd tell them the answer, simply because I've spent enough time thinking about the answer that sharing it with someone else is worth opening my mouth for. D'you know what I'd tell them? I'd tell them that there are many reasons for someone to stay silent.
Some people stay silent because they're afraid to speak. They might be afraid of others hearing what they have to say, afraid of being judged for their words. In some countries, they might be afraid of persecution, and in their case, I can hardly blame them for that. In the case of someone like me, one might think that I'm afraid of people teasing me about my accent.
But this isn't me. I'm not afraid.
Other people stay silent because they have nothing to say. Maybe they feel like the world moves too quickly around them, and it's changed before they can get a word in edgewise. Maybe they feel like everyone else makes so much noise, that there's no need for them to contribute. Perhaps they'd rather take in the world around them instead of expelling a load of rubbish from their mouths.
This is closer to me, but not quite a perfect fit. There's more to my silence than that.
A few poor people stay silent because they're too small for words. And I don't mean physically small, I don't mean that they're too young to talk. I mean small in… hmm, what would be a good word to use here? Soul? Self? Perhaps they've slowly crumbled apart until they're but a small fragment rattling around in a shell that's too big for them. Perhaps they've broken apart, and wait in silence to be put back together again.
This is definitely not me. These people have my sympathy.
Others are the exact opposite. They stay silent because they're too big to speak. Once again, I don't mean physically big. I mean big in that same soul, or self, or whatever you'd like to call it. They spill out of their bodies, which are nothing but containers, too small to hold them anyways. They live in their minds, the only place vast enough for them, and in the mind, one needs no words. They're too busy exploring the world, exploring their thoughts, exploring everything, to talk.
Yes, this is me.
If only the rest of them realised that if they'd just shut their mouths ever once and awhile, they could learn so much more. The world is bursting with knowledge ripe for the taking, like apples in an orchard, if only they'd climb the trees and pick them.
Now, I mean no offence to everyone else. There are plenty of intelligent people who talk a lot. Take Phineas, for example. He's nearly as bright as I am, yet he's constantly saying something. All I mean to imply is that it's a shame; that people could learn so much more if they spent half the time they spend speaking observing the world.
And that is what I would say if anyone ever asked me why I choose not to speak.
