I was half-listening to the radio the other day when those words caught my ear. Since I teach public speaking, I decided to put that concept before my class. If it's bravery to speak, I asked them, what is at stake? What do we stand to lose by speaking up?
"You might look stupid," someone replied.
"What do you stand to lose by looking stupid?" I asked.
Their answers included your reputation, respect, friends, and more. Speaking up is dangerous. Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl who spoke up for the right of girls to be educated, was shot on October 9, shot for having a voice.
"What do you stand to lose by not speaking up?" I asked the class. Their answers included time and money.
There is much to lose by not speaking up. In September, many people became sick with E. coli infections from beef originating at XL Foods, an Alberta meat processing plant. Many workers did not speak up due to fear of reprisals. They were laid off anyway. And their silence made others sick. Their silence might have killed someone.
The tainted beef story involves too much silence - even the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not speak up for two weeks after discovering a problem with the beef.
Does our culture encourage silence?
We each need to examine our fear of speaking on a case-by-case basis. Are we willing to speak up when we see a dangerous workplace, incompetent workers, or bad management decisions? Are there ways of speaking up that stress mutual goals and reduce personal risk? Are you afraid to speak up?
"Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right." -- Malala Yousufzai
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