Finding Our Voice

Lately there was a video shared on Facebook that really made me think. A lot. It looked at history and some of the wars and problems that have happened and talked about how many of the most tragic events have happened because a small number of people were given power or allowed to take power by a greater number of people and through their actions made the other (larger) part of the people almost insignificant. I’m not sure what the percentages are but one example was how the small group of Nazi’s in Germany caused the devastation of Europe and death of millions.

Anyways, like I said, it made me think. Does that still happen today? Obviously it does. The Taliban is great at showing the same kind of fear power that the Nazi’s thrived on. There are other examples as well though. Most of the time on television and the news we see the reports about people who are speaking out and protesting for change. We see so many of these reports that we feel like they must be the overwhelming majority and eventually we begin to think there must be something to what they’re saying since it seems that so many people are in agreement. In actuality many of these people are just part of a small but very vocal and motivated minority. It’s easy to forget that truth and facts are what they are independent of who may or may not believe them.

I know I’ve said it before here but I’m proud to live in America. I’m proud that we have the ability to vote and change and affect laws. I’m glad that minorities are part of that vote. I think that their voices absolutely need to be heard. What I don’t agree with however is when a minority group gets to determine policy for a larger group. This is something that goes far beyond national laws. It happens all the time in all sorts of ways. It’s the age old concept that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

So what is there to be done? We let our voices be heard. Sometimes this isn’t easy. Especially for me, from the time that I was in middle school I can remember my goal being invisibility. I hated when I had attention brought to me. I couldn’t stand to be thought of as different or to have anyone not like me. That meant that usually I kept my mouth shut and tried to hide away in the corner.  I’ve come to realize however that my goal didn’t really get me very far. In the end it didn’t really make me happy either. If we want to have a positive impact in our homes, communities, nations, and the world, first we have to speak up. It doesn’t mean that we should be rude or derogatory. It just means that when we have an opinion we should be willing to share it. That opinion may be right, it may be wrong, it really doesn’t matter. I love when I’m proven wrong (really proven – not just told), it means I’ve learned something. If we can start thoughtful and open discussions where groups of people bring together a variety of ideas, information, and experiences and actually listen to each other then maybe we’ll be able to learn something. We might even be able to come up with laws or programs that work and are fair to everyone instead of just the same few people that seem naturally gifted with the ability to speak up and be heard.