Speak.

How many people have tried

to

speak

and have failed?

 

Whether it's because they're bound--

Held,

tied,

screaming beneath the gag

Of society, of war, of the pressure

Of guns behind their backs and the heat of their homes being set on fire?

 

Or because they are afraid, so they sit still--

Perfect

little

obedient porcelain statues

Speak behind their hands so that no one will hear them,

Go to sleep praying that things will pick up and change on their own.

 

Or, even worse, because they won't--

Because they have

given up

before

trying.

They turn a blind eye to the world around them,

Stay in their homes, the eye of the hurricane

Safe, warm, happy--

 

No, not happy.

Complaining.

About everything.

They use their voices to whine, to wheedle

More money,

more clothes,

more social media,

While on the other side of the world, on the other side of the street,

Someone is using their voice for more

Food,

clothing,

and shelter.

 

How many people have tried to speak and have failed?

 

How many more haven't even tried?

 

Take the pen in your hand,

Or the keyboard, if that's what you prefer--

Write your thoughts out

The way that the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution,

The way a soldier writes a note telling his family that he loves them,

The way to be heard

 

You can build a person up

Break them down

Set the world on fire

Or try to douse the flames

You can try to end things

Like hunger, cancer, poverty

You can try to start things

Like movements, love, care for

Someone who has never known

such a thing

 

But what matters

What really matters
Is that you use it.

 

That beautiful voice--

low, high, medium

Gravelly, or crystal-smooth

Melodic or monotone

 

On paper or to a person

 

Speak.

Because so many have tried
And failed.

 

Speak.

Because you can.





This is why I speak.


 

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