My inside voice

I wasn't feeling so well that morning. Not sick, but not up to par. Not at full strength. But as the teacher I still needed to control the room full of third graders and hopefully to teach them something. 

I may have flicked the lights - in those days a common trick to get attention. At any rate, I began in barely more than a whisper to explain to my students that I needed their help in being extra attentive because I wasn't able to speak very loudly.

To my delight, it worked. How cool! They got serious and even lowered their tones to match mine. It worked so well, in fact, that I decided I should remember this tactic.

...

Is there still some lesson for me today?  For me, the friend, the neighbor, the mentor, the writer, the influencer? In the classroom that morning, I learned that sometimes...  maybe rarely, but maybe  at least once in a great while... silence can speak louder than noise.  

Actually maybe not so rarely. That being the case, could my soft voice (or my silence) be as effective (or maybe even more effective) than my loud voice? Could my whisper cut through the noise better than a strong, bold statement?

I want to be a truth-teller, but maybe that doesn't always have to be with bold, strong statements. Maybe there should be more whispers of affirmation and encouragement from these lips. Certainly I could be using a soft voice more than I do - a voice that is kind and gentle rather than strong and persuasive. I'm not so confident in my ability to be strong and persuasive anyway.

So...  how about I practice using my inside voice? My gentle voice.  Maybe, just maybe, it will cut through the noise and maybe even calm the chaos. And quite possibly it will speak peace to ears that are aching from the surrounding din.

...  Edited and reprinted from my early days of blogging