I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
Audre LordeTag: silence empowering speaking-out spoken
My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.
Audre LordeTag: truth words women silence feminism illness speaking-out cancer differences
The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.
Coco ChanelTag: individuality empowerment freedom courage judgment thought self-determination independence speaking-out dignity
Yawns are not the only infectious things out there besides germs.
Giggles can spread from person to person.
So can blushing.
But maybe the most powerful infectious thing is the act of speaking the truth.
Tag: motivational truth speech free-speech motivation blush voice speaking-out speaking blushing contagious giggle giggles yawn yawns
A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.
Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song.
Tag: music cooperation free speech singing free-speech unity song harmony voice speaking-out together choir speechless voices speak loud chorus choruses harmonize harmonizing join joining loudmouths soft speak-up vocalize vocalizing working-together
When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.
Bette DavisTag: empowerment gender women opinions feminism misogyny hypocrisy stereotypes double-standards clichés speaking-out
A Litany for Survival
For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children's mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours:
For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother's milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.
And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid
So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.
Tag: fear life poetry silence speaking-out
I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language."
I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared" or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever.
Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it's personal. And the world won't end.
And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don't miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And you will still flirt and paint your nails, dress up and party, because, as I think Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.
Tag: truth silence feminism revolution speaking-out
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.
EuripidesTag: freedom freedom-of-speech speaking-out
It’s not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed on our behalf, perhaps it’s the most patriotic thing we can do.
E.A. BucchianeriTag: politics truth injustice freedom justice patriotism democracy courage patriotic bravery free-speech corruption christian freedom-of-speech citizenship catholic speaking-out catholic-author speak-out protesting speak-up patriot citizen gadfly speaking-up defending-your-country not-in-my-name protests speak-up-and-step-up standing-up unpatriotic whistle-blower whistle-blowers whistle-blowing
Pagina 1 di 2.
prossimo ultimo »
Data privacy
Imprint
Contact
Diese Website verwendet Cookies, um Ihnen die bestmögliche Funktionalität bieten zu können.