A Wordy Week?

I am that guy.  There may be a wire loose.

I can’t help but speak a clever comment back whenever people say something.  (Clever to me!)  Whether it is at a meeting, in a conversation or at a chance meeting with a neighbor on the street, I not only have something to say, I have a clever comeback to whatever someone else says.  Generally, it is also the last word… even if I have to come up with another word to make it so.

One of my standard lines when I am talking with someone else is, “I always have an opinion.”  What I typically don’t add is that even if I am not asked for it, I freely offer it.

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

It’s hard to keep them to myself.  Too often I don’t.

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

Like others over these last few weeks I have been on countless Zoom meetings.  They are a great way to keep connected.  Zoom connects high tech with high touch.  The biggest drawback for such meetings is that they only allow one person to talk at a time.  There is no chance for banter, repartee.  There is no chance for me to offer up all the clever comments and constant opinions that pop into my loose-wired brain.

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

Tons and tons of other people are offering them up during this virus crisis:  experts, politicians, commentators, people on the street.  For all the words, comments and opinions there is scare little true knowledge; it’s far too early in the game for that.  No doubt we are five years away from knowing what we really should or should not be doing now.  Of course, in the meantime there is a lot of talk.

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

A friend of mine publicly weighed in with his words, comments and opinions on an issue this week I wish he hadn’t.  The topic and the timing were not helped by his words… well meaning as they were.  It would have been a good time to keep them to himself.  Just because he had them didn’t mean he needed to share them.

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

There is a radio personality I have listened to for years.  He also writes books and newspaper columns.  He is bright.  Insightful. Clever.  He may have a couple more loose wires than I do given the way he thinks  of such clever things!  I admire him for that.  But there are times he talks too much.  I don’t blame him; he has airtime to fill.  And because he does not have the luxury of silence (dead airtime on the radio is not good), he comes up with positions he would never take if he had time to be silent and think more thoroughly. 

Words.  Comments.  Opinions.

Here’s the thing that strikes me as significant this week: silence is more golden than we think. 

There is a proverb that’s not part of Proverbs.  (Something doesn’t have to be in the Bible to be true.) “Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” 

There is a proverb that is not part of Proverbs but is in the Bible.  “The more the words the less the meaning.”   (Ecclesiastes 6:11)

As the Lenten Season comes to a close, the area I want to rethink (repent of) is how freely I offer up words, comments and opinions.  Just because something pops into my loose-wired brain doesn’t mean everyone needs to hear it.  I don’t have to comment on everything someone else says in a meeting.  I don’t have to share every quip that my brain hatches.  I don’t have to be either the first or the last one in an email or text string.   

Indeed, the goldenness of silence may be more valuable than pearls of wisdom. That’s what seems significant to me.

This week, what has struck you as significant?