Thursday, April 17

Today marks the fourth year I've spent a spring day in April in the same spot in a far-away town. Same event, same people, with a few new faces, same weather, same food. The drive down and back was the best part. The leaves on the trees are a young, light green and are just gracing the tips of the trees, looking more and more green the further south we were. Those purple bushes are in full bloom and were lining the highway. Red bud? This spring, so far, seems to have the most vibrant showing in my memory of early spring blossoms -- the purple bushes, the yellow bushes, the fruit trees, and even the magnolia trees, which are very particular about whether they have the right conditions to show their fleeting, fantastical flowers.
Today and yesterday I pondered the ancient dilemma of choosing between speaking out about problems and keeping your mouth shut. It takes courage to speak out and voice concerns. Being honest about voicing concerns means facing the consequences of the ripple effect it will have on other people. Stepping on their toes. Usually, keeping your mouth shut means staying safe in your own sphere, the nobody-bothers-me-and-I-don't-bother-anybody mentality. On the other hand, staying silent sometimes makes the problem worse. The dilemma can be translated to whether you want to create different problems for other people, or let the original problem fester within yourself. I like to believe it's better to communicate openly and honestly, but at times I can feel sorry that I did, based on how people react badly to my being forthright. I do think it's important to voice concerns: that is how change for the better is made, laws are passed, and people are motivated to make themselves, and the systems they represent, better. The key to voicing problems is to learn to do it diplomatically so that you don't hurt peoples' feelings and generate negativity and ill will in the process.