Clarifying Peace
  • The Facts
  • Calling Mother
  • Spiritual Direction
  • Blog
  • poetry, story telling, and prayers
  • Essays and Papers
  • Contact

speak up

9/27/2011

3 Comments

 
As host family to a young Nicaraguan woman brought by the Mennonite Central Committee for a year of service in the United States, specifically as an assistant in the Spanish Language department of Messiah College, we are reading Foreign to Familiar by Sarah A. Lanier. Lanier's thesis revolves around explicating the difference between hot and cold-climate cultures. For example, one Kenyan voice may represent twenty other individuals, while one American voice may represent just that one person.

Discussing individualism and group identity in these contrasting cultures, Lanier tells this story. "In a conference where perhaps twenty languages were represented, the principle language was English. All the plenary sessions were conducted in English, as were most of the workshops. The leadership made up mostly of Europeans and Americans, were discussing whether or not to have translation from the podium or just to have simultaneous translations for the various language groups to save time. As various individuals voiced their opinions, it was obvious that simultaneous translation was the preference of the group.

Then a man from Bolivia spoke up and quietly explained the difficulty translators had with simultaneous translation. They were only able to hear half sentences because they did not have time to finish translating a sentence before the speaker was on to the next one. He also explained that alternating translation helped those who spoke English as a second language. The time gap after each sentence allowed the person time to assimilate better what was being said. This is true even if he or she does not understand the translation.

The head of the leadership heard the Bolivian, but then said, "Good point, but the majority seem to think it's not worth the loss of time on the podium to have the alternating translation.

What he failed to recognize was that the Bolivian man was representing the majority. The others were not speaking up because they had been represented and did not need, as individuals, to be heard. The people of the 'individualistic' cultures all spoke up for themselves, so they seemed to be the majority. The one vote from the hot-climate culture group must have equaled as many as twenty of the cold-climate votes."

I was fascinated and excited when I read that story because as I have worked to find my voice, meaning my own words for my experiences, I know that I am speaking for others -- those who already dead who were not able to speak for themselves and those who have not yet found their voice.

And like the Bolivian man in Lanier's story, my voice has at times been undervalued, as those in positions of leadership may try but are unable to hear what I am saying. In that event, we who know that we speak for others, may find that we need to exert extra energy to hold our place and to keep the conversation going long enough to be heard.

When God allows, we need to move confidently out of our quiet, reflective posts to speak up clearly, as the Bolivian man did so well. Like the leaders who come out of hot-climate cultures, introverts may also find themselves speaking for other introverts or perhaps those who have been overwhelmed by life.

In the photograph below, we see a stranger in conversation with my younger sister, as I look on. Introverts are watching, making notes of so much. For an introvert, speaking up requires that we move out of our most comfortable place and risk being understood or not.

Here is the New York city skyline as it appeared in about 1960. We are enroute to either the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island. I don't recall the trip.

If you are an extrovert, are you listening to to those for whom voicing one's own desires comes hard? If you are an introvert, are you still trying to connect effectively, as God allows?



Picture
3 Comments
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2022
    May 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    April 2020
    October 2016
    August 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

    Categories

    All
    A Beautiful Dress That Fit
    After We Die
    Artesian Well Spring
    Barker Dam
    Be
    Bearing The Responsibility Of Others
    Beautiful
    Body
    Butterfly Girl
    Calm
    Clean Daily
    Confession Of Sin
    Courage And Cowardice
    Couturier
    Dark Horse
    Darkness And Light
    Darkness Cannot Overcome Light
    Dock Gently
    Dog
    Enough And Enough
    Epiphany Work
    Game Of Conversation
    Generous Gifts
    Happy
    Healing Prayer
    Heart
    Held In Balance
    Holy Living
    Hydrofracturing
    Inner Work
    In Time
    I Will Not Carry
    Joshua Tree National Park
    Loss And Discernment
    Love
    Magi
    Making Peace
    Mavis Staples
    Name It
    Not Alone
    Nothing Is Lost
    O Come Let Us Adore Him
    Opportuntity To Persevere
    Orion Magazine
    Peaceful And Lucky
    Peonage
    Praying About Changes
    Rebirth
    Receiving The Gifts Of God
    Rest
    Seeds
    Seen
    Singing
    Sitting In Silence
    Sleeper Awake
    Slow Down
    Song
    Speaking And Listening
    Steingraber
    Strength
    Sunlight
    Telling Your Story
    The Help
    The Iron Thing They Carried
    Thought In The Form Of An Experience
    To Start Healing The Child In Me
    Transcendent Moments
    Transformation
    Trust
    Unconditional Love
    Unspoken Mantras
    Waiting
    Walking On Water
    Words

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.