"Silence makes the real conversations between partners...not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts."
Margaret Lee Runbeck
Have you ever experienced asking your friend a very critical question and all you get is a bemused stare?
Definitely, your first natural reaction would be to frown and feel disdained. There is the feeling of rejection and disregard or even disrespect. Then we ask ourselves, "What is the matter with him? Is he all right? But did we ever deliberate what his silence means?
So very few people consider silence as a form of communication, but as a communications graduate, I personally believe it is the most powerful one. We commonly believe in the adage "the pen is mightier than the sword" but have we ever thought that "silence is mightier than words"?
While it signifies non-behavior, it does not necessarily mean inaction. The person you are talking to may have not given an immediate "verbal response" for a thousand and one reason. He may still be thinking or contemplating for a "response" or may either be anxious and fearful of speaking. His silence may also mean agreement or maybe dissent.
The interpretation is now left on the person asking the question. This may be thought provoking at times, but when we really want an answer, we have no choice but to speculate and understand.
It happens most of the time - that we fail to pay close attention to the silent portion of a conversation, and most often, we miss the most vital part of the message.
Silence is golden especially when any word we say may cause chaos, breed disputes, shatter reputations or worse, cause other people's lives.
It is really important to listen to other people's silence, more so to people close to you - your friends, partners, children, parents- because there are a lot of essential messages they could not put into words.
Their silence may tell us everything - even more than we ought to know!
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