Categories: uncategorized
Date: 06 May 2005 12:17:31
I did it! i did not talk for a whole 24 hours. At 2.30am last night, whiles watching the elections, I had completed the 24 hours of silence and rejoiced with an "ohhh! Wow! i did it!!!". It was very much a learning experience for me, i am quite surprised at how much I learnt from supporting Christian Aid in this way. Below I have outlined the main things that I have learnt (in no particular order).
Being silent made me so much more aware of my surroundings. I was more aware of my friends and their reactions to various situations. I also found that I noticed God's presence in my everyday life, when I rarely do normally. Without the distraction of talking to other people i was able to feel God's peaceful, but forever-there presence, as well as my friends body language and facial expressions. Thinking about this reminded me of a 'silent worship' I participated in at Greenbelt last year, which highlighted for me just how many distractions from God there are in our modern, Western society. I think in future i will try to be more aware of God and my friends (and somehow still talk as normal - as one friend said "you're just not you when you're not talking")
I found that so often I didn't have to use sign language or write down my feelings as just a single look directed at a particular person at an appropriate moment, would communicate my thoughts. That was cool. At other moments i was desperate to speak, just to support a friend who needed me. But I resisted the temptation, and instead found that touch, used appropriately, through hugs or a hand on a shoulder, could very easily convey my support and sympathy.
The whole experience made me realise just how much people take their voices for granted. I know I do. Communicating through alternative means, for example by sign language, takes so much longer and so often people would think I was trying to say something completely different. I also realised just how much I talk in a normal day. At one point in the day I was sat in the chaplaincy and made no effort to communicate as other people were talking. After about 5 minutes one of the chaplains said 'are you doing a sponsored silence? You usually talk more than this'. This person did not know that i was doing a sponsored silence, so it was rather scary when they guessed, just because I hadn't spoken for 5 minutes!
Overall, it has been very worthwhile; have I learnt a lot from the experience as well as collecting nearly £100 for Christian Aid, but I'm not in any hurry to do it again - I like having my voice back.