Friday, November 7, 2008

Making a stand

If you know me at all, then you would know that I'm not very outspoken. I like peace and harmony. I don't like arguments or debates and I've never been very opinionated. I am on a discussion list serve where I work and after approximately a week of highly educated professors bantering back and forth with opinions, statistics and what seemed like written emails with endless researched rhetoric; I finally could stand my silence no longer. One email in particular hit a nerve and before I could stop them my fingers were flying across the keyboard in a frenzy of outrage. I couldn't stop them, they had a mind of their own and as I hovered over the send button I couldn't stop the inevitable click. Oh no! This could get ugly. I can not compete with the verbiage and writing style of these professors, nor could I so eloquently place my words in type print to even compare with this intelligent forum. My hands were shaking in shear panic of the up and coming responses that would be sent in reply to my spontaneous utterings. To my surprise, not only did I get numerous, positive responses, but a personal phone call. These pats on the back, cheers of encouragement and kudos that were flying through cyberspace and landing in my inbox multiplied and actually boosted my confidence. One person even responded by saying, " Two golden cents they are, too. Legal tender, like all the rest. ;)" What I did may not seem like much to some, but for me it took guts. I bet you're wondering what the topic of discussion was???? I'd rather not say, I don't want to further the debate.

2 comments:

justjuls said...

I am so proud of you - I know that it takes a lot out of you. What a great thing it is to learn the gentle art of graceful confrontation. It is such an important skill. Why do we have to be in our 30s to learn it?

Good for you. Love ya!

Free Spirit said...

Hurray for you!!