Imagine that for the next 24 hours, everything you decided not to say was somehow made visible.... Maybe on your forehead... Maybe behind you on every adjacent surface...
Every judgement you swallowed. Every angry response you deleted before pressing send. Every assumption you made about somebody you'd never met. Every compliment you thought but didn't give. Every moment of envy, kindness, resentment, compassion, prejudice, generosity or fear that passed through your mind without anybody else knowing.
At the end of those 24 hours, what would somebody conclude about your character? I'm not sure the answer is as obvious as it first appears. Because perhaps #character isn't revealed by having no thoughts we'd be ashamed of. Character may be revealed by what we choose to do with them.
The cruel thought we don't turn into cruel words. The assumption we stop and question. The angry email we don't send. The prejudice we notice rather than defend. The apology we decide to make despite the voice telling us not to. And perhaps the opposite matters enormously too. The kindness we thought but never expressed. The person we admired but never told. The defense of somebody we rehearsed silently but didn't make when it mattered. Maybe the things we don't say aren't all morally equivalent.
Some silences are restraint. Some are fear. Some are wisdom. Some are cowardice. Which leaves me wondering: If everything I didn't say yesterday became visible today, would it reveal my character... or the struggle from which my character is made?
Leave Room...