The world seems so big, and there seem to be so many excellent voices saying exactly what you would be saying — if only you were saying it. And, they seem to say it so much better than you imagine you would say it. That’s not actually how it is.
You may have noticed that not everyone is the same. People have different tastes, different likes and dislikes, different perspectives, different ways of being in the world. We don’t all experience the world in the same way.
Granted in a world of 7 billion people there are not 7 billion totally unique perspectives. If we boil down the different perspectives, we may find that there are 100, or 1000, or maybe even 10,000 fundamentally different perspectives. Whether it is 10 or 100,000 two things are true. There is more than 1 perspective and there is less than 7 billion.
This means that you are a member of a group of others that share your perspective. Maybe not 100% — just more or less. That means that those folks in your group will have affinity for similar ways of expressing one’s self, and similar ways of processing input from the world. Basically you will speak the same language.
This brings us to the point of this blog: Your Voice Matters.
Anyone lurking on facebook or google+ will have had the following experience: As you browse your page one of your friends will have found a picture or made a quote that says it exactly right. Whatever “it” is, they hit the nail on the head and said it totally bang on. “Wish I could have said it that well.”
At this point you might fall into the trap of believing that nothing else needs to be said, and certainly there is no point in you trying to express that “it” — since someone else has already said it so well. That is a trap — one I hope you don’t stay in. Here’s why. There is a group of someone’s out there that actually need to hear it from you.
For you, that friend of yours said it perfectly. But for this other group of someone’s you will be the one that says it best. As bizarre as that may sound, that is how it works. There is some poor schmo out there for whom you are the voice that will get the message across.
Granted there are others for whom your version of saying it will sound less than perfect. But those are not the people you need to worry about. Have pity on that group of someone’s that are predisposed to hearing it best when expressed from your perspective.
I’m not proposing that you go out and jibber-jabber about every topic that comes along. I for one don’t care much about when and where my friends go shoe shopping. It is left as homework for you to figure out what it is you should be communicating about. I would never presume to tell anyone what they should personally be committed to. The purpose of this blog is just to remind folks that their voice does matter, suggest the possibility that there may be people out there for whom your voice is the best, and encourage you to be responsible for communicating your perspective on those topics you believe to be important.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that just because some expert or celebrity said it so well that your voice is not important. There’s a group of folks out there for whom you are the best voice. May Hermes have mercy on their souls. (in case you’re wondering Hermes is the Greek god of speech.)