The message of silence

Did you know that silence can be very infuriating? I didn't know the extent until yesterday when a cabman unleashed his fury on me.

The mud from the day's rain coupled with crazy rush of motorists had taken its toll on my mood as I boarded a cab to town after a long day's work. Work had not ended on a cheering note either as I had to break the news to an anxious mum that her 3 year old son was a 'sickler'. As expected, she broke down crying, recounting how her people had warned her not to marry outside her tribe, but she did. I couldn't adequately educate her in that state that having a HBSS child had nothing to do with inter-tribal marriage.

Anyway, as I left the Mpape township, I decided that I needed a calm and quiet ride home, so I was just going to chatter a cab all the way.

Unluckily for me, the cab man was a chatter box ( despite my announcement that I wasn't feeling fine) ; he had something to say all the way home. 

He commented about the injustice of having a 'big' car, and about 'agberos' being callous in Abuja.

Unfortunately for him, his passenger just wasn't up to the task of keeping up with his conversation. So I replied only when necessary ( and that was like once or twice).

As we approached my area, I notices that he had resorted to ' hmm and hmm mmm'. I didn't suspect that he was bottling up his fury. 

Just at the corner of my house, he exploded. He just couldn't take my silence anymore. Ahn Ahn! How dare me not join in his conversation? All I used were gestures. 

I was shocked and didn't understand his anger. I tried to get him to explain what he meant, but hour just handed me my change and zoomed off.

He succeeded in making me THINK that I was wrong for not joining in his chats. 

I wondered if it was a sin to want a little bit of quiet in this noisy world. 

 Albert Hubbard said " he who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words. 

But in all this, I gleaned a lesson: the only answer you need sometimes is silence. You don't need to reply everyone. Even the bible says that : ' answer not a fool according to its folly, lest you be like him' Prov 26:4.

The next time you want to give an answer, be silent for a few seconds and ask yourself if silence would be a better answer.