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The Goddess Speaks Victoria S.S. Wong |
Do not disrespect people
who want to remain silent
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." (Genesis 1:3)It was a voice that started the universe. "We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice," implored Abigail Adams to her husband. It is a voice that the oppressed request. A voice holds power: the power to command, to convert, to compel.
In these United States, the Bill of Rights allows me this power. I may vocalize my disdain for war, wind or Washington. I may shout from the rooftops and yodel in the mountains. I am an Asian woman, less oppressed than any Asian woman in times past; I have the power of voice bestowed upon me like never before. But, I do not choose to speak.
Every other minority fights for the right to be noticed, to be heard. Who fights for those of us who say nothing?
The more vocal among you might be clucking, "What rights should we give people who are not demanding rights?" I ask that you do not equate voiced demands and inner desires. As one of the often speechless, I am requesting identity. I am requesting that when you speak to me and hear little in return, you do not label me. I am no snob. I am not slow-witted nor am I scared of you. I am merely exercising my right to remain silent.
My mind is a wildfire. It rages its way down forests of incoming chatter, sparing no tree. I listen, and my mind sends to me a myriad of thoughts, questions and sarcastic one-liners. The outsider views me as a passive listener, but the word passive does not dare enter my vocabulary. I might have 10 solutions to every problem you voice, a hundred comebacks to your every repetitive refrain.
Sometimes I smile and nod because I can't decide on which of my witticisms to share with you. Sometimes I am merely selfish and afraid that, like the photographed, every bit of information I share is the disintegration of the scurf of my soul. I used to smile and nod because my English wasn't very good. The other silent ones have their unique reasons, but why would they share them with you?
I might sound smug in my tirade, but it is because I have chosen this path of silence. Remember the children who remain seen but not heard. Remember the speech-impaired who physically lack the ability of voice. And remember those whose language you do not comprehend. Please bestow upon us the same respect, the same presence as those with a voice.
Victoria S.S.Wong is a first-year medical student at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is quiet due to her shyness but wanted an excuse to sound bold and to use the phrase "scurf of my soul."
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