This past week at RB, two days of action were carried out. One of them was the Day of Silence for Pro-Life which occurred October 20th. Few students chose not to talk to try to make their point and support the pro-life cause. Minimal results happened. The second day, Day of Service, which took place October 17th, had much better results. More than 500 students participated in the Day of Service doing random acts of service to help benefit the community.
For hundreds of years, people have been trying to get their points across in many different ways. One of the fastest growing methods is simply not talking. Days of silence are occurring in more and more schools each year, and are showing no signs of slowing down. But where are the results?
The Day of Silence, which is now in its 13th year, is a national, student led event that brings attention to all lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender people that have been silenced due to discrimination.
Senior Emily Chapman, who has been involved with Riverside Brookfield’s Day of Silence, said, “The goal of the Day of Silence is to get people to recognize how hard it is to be who you really are, especially if you are constantly being judged or made fun of.”
In an ideal world, people would see this day, take it to heart, and do their part to help. Realistically, people do not change their opinion very easily. Just because people choose not to talk for a day does not mean it is going to change people’s minds on the topic.
Some people agree with the goal of the Day of Silence, but they do not participate because they simply don’t believe in not talking.
“I strongly believe in what the Day of Silence stands for, but I have never participated in it, and I don’t plan on it either,” Senior Ian Robertson said.
The Day of Silence’s website states that more than 8,000 schools and 100,000 students participated by not talking for a whole day. But visual results are not there. Especially since more and more acts of violence are occurring due to discrimination and harassment every year.
I would like to make it clear I have nothing against what the Day of Silence stands for. The point I’m trying to make is that I feel like there are more effective ways of getting a point across than not talking.
Get out and do something for your cause. Don’t just walk around all day and not talk.
