Strength Measured By Silence

A man’s strength is measured by the silences he keeps.

I have observed in others, and in myself, that often, the more desperate the need to talk, the less peace there is. Some people just prattle on about nothing all the time, so much at times that it’s difficult to be around them, much less to want to. They talk about so many inconsequential and niggling things that, if they do say something of importance, it gets missed in the muddle. It’s like they’re searching for something in the process of speaking, something gossamer-thin and vaporous, almost wished-for but never graspable, always just beyond reach but tantalizing enough to keep trying.

Sometimes, I just want to be away from such people. I enjoy my silences. I enjoy not having to say something, and sometimes I even want to just tell them, “Please, just shut up! Just be quiet and enjoy your own thoughts!” But then, they probably don’t enjoy themselves—who knows, maybe they are the last person they want to talk with! So they just keep on filling the spaces with more nothingness in a far less pleasurable and meaningful way.

A boxer’s strength is revealed in the knock-out punch, but it is measured in the process of getting there—the training, the waiting, the ability to know when and how and why, even if only intuitively. A lion’s success and even survival depends on the silences of stalking. Truly great men do not need to speak of their own greatness—it shows in the action. The process of getting there has made them who they are, and it does not matter that the world cannot see behind the curtains of time, history, and even destiny.