The Conspiracy of Silence: "SILENCE...We are afraid of him. Indeed, for us it is more powerful than words."

The Conspiracy of Silence.

"SILENCE

We Natives know about silence.

We are afraid of him. Indeed, for us it is more powerful than words. Our elders were educated in the ways of silence, and they transmitted that knowledge to us. Watch, listen, and then act, we were told. That's the way to live awake.

Watch the animals to see how they take care of their babies. Watch the elderly to see how they behave. Watch the white man to see what he wants. Always watch first, with heart and mind still and then you will learn. When you've observed enough, then you can act without fear.

With you it's the opposite. You guys learn by talking. They award kids who talk the most at school. At their parties everyone tries to talk. At work they are always having meetings where everyone interrupts everyone, and everyone talks five, ten or a hundred times. And they call it "solving a problem". When they're in a room and there's silence, they get nervous. They have to fill the space with sounds. So they speak impulsively, even before they know what they're going to say.

White people like to argue. They don't even allow the other to finish a sentence. They always interrupt. For us this is very disrespectful and even very stupid. If you start talking, I'm not going to interrupt you. I'll listen to you. Maybe I'll stop listening to you if I don't like what you're saying. But I'm not going to interrupt you. When you're done, I'll make my decision about what you said, but I won't tell you if I disagree, unless it's important. Otherwise I'll just stay quiet and walk away. You told me what I need to know. There's nothing more to say. But that's not enough for most white people.

People should think of their words as if they were seeds. They should plant them, then allow them to grow in silence. Our elders taught us that the earth is always speaking to us, but that we must keep quiet to listen to it."

Text: Luís Cardenas