Silence In Mitch Albom's Tuesday With Morrie

And slowly a discussion begins-- as Morrie has wanted all along-- about the effect of silence on human relations. Why are we embarrassed by silence? What comfort do we find in all the noise? I am not bothered by silence. For all the noise I make with my friends, I am still not comfortable talking about my feelings in front of others-- especially not classmates. I could sit in the quiet for hours if that is what the class demanded. On my out, Morrie stops me. “You didn’t say much today,” he remarks I don’t know. I just didn’t have anything to add. “I think you have a lot to add. In fact, Mitch, you remind me of someone I knew who also like to keep to himself when he was younger.” Who? “Me.” (pages 53-54) I can personally relate to this passage from Tuesday With Morrie by Mitch Albom. In Morrie’s class, his students were talking about the significance, or rather the insignificance, of silence in our culture. They discussed how silence intimidates most
As much as he enjoys communicating with his friends, he tends to remain quiet among his acquaintances. This reminds me very much of myself. Sure, I like to have a good time with my friends and family- people who, to me, are predictable. I am much more comfortable expressing myself with people whom I can foresee how they are going to respond to what I say or do. For the longest time I didn’t understand how people could be so open and unafraid to express themselves very intimately with people they barely know or don’t know at all. That seemed so strange to me since I rarely spoke about personal things with people I didn’t know very well. Later, I realized that the reason I did this was because I find comfort in knowing how my words are going to be interpreted by whomever I’m talking to. If I don’t know someone, I’d rather stay quiet and get to know them so I can have a feel for how to act or what the how I should express