What if you could see Silence?

A Speech.

Imagine if we could see oppression.

You’re a lighthouse keeper watching the fog roll in.
First it consumed the stars and the waves, then it ate the rocks and our buildings—where we hold it at bay with our lights.

I see apathetic compliance, and the quiet that accompanies it, as fog.

A fog that has devoured my country and is determined to douse our voices.

Now, thanks to the vagaries of the hate-speech laws, the fog has help. Many of us—who do not like trouble—are already self-censoring.

I’m so small and the fog is immense—what can I do?

Once I could see our golden shores from here, but now all I can see is their mist.

Freedom of speech is a tool.

We use it, when we are brave enough, to identify the core of our problems—then we use it again to find solutions.

It is also the tool we can use to discover ourselves, to allow our children to discover who they are, and to bring the gift of their individuality to the combined poetry of humanity.

But here and now, let’s not think of freedom of speech as a sound. For just a moment, let’s think of it as something we can see—like a light we can use to hold their fog at bay.

And their fog is faltering. Here and there lights are piercing through.

So, if you are still feeling overwhelmed, like there is nothing you can do—perhaps it’s time to switch on your lights, Australia.
May I suggest we all turn on our lights.

Who knows—you might discover that your destiny was not to sink quietly into their mist, but instead to become a lighthouse keeper, drawing our lost from their dark.

Michael Gray Griffith

Author of, “Goodbye Road”

Available here https://cafelockedout.com/clo-shop/the-bbc/