I Have Nothing to Say
By Leland Sapp
“I have nothing to say,”
responded my friend when I asked him if he would say a few words
during communion at our next church service.
“I have nothing to say.”
I nodded, perplexed, but took his
answer as a “no”.
Twenty years later, I am still not
exactly sure what he meant in that moment, but I find myself
identifying with his seemingly self-defeated phrase. I know it's not
entirely true, for I have many useful things to say. I'm just no
longer motivated to say them aloud. I'm coming to believe that the
world, for the most part, is not listening. It seems that more and
more of us have the attention span of a shooting star. We thrive on
seven second sound bytes that are too short to offer substantial
solutions to complicated challenges. We experience bursts of emotion
as our hot buttons are pushed by the media for the purpose of ratings
rather than the betterment of society. In political debate, our
passions flare like a match when struck before dying moments later
leaving us empty and tired like the after-affect of a cheap energy
drink.
Then, there are people like Ron
Paul who do have something to say. His ideas, if heeded, could fix
the mess of Washington, but no one listens; not the media, not other
politicians, and certainly not the rich and powerful. Nothing
productive comes as pearls are thrown away on the passionate and
misguided masses who continue to vote for the ideological color of
the month. Yet, he continues to talk. I admire him as a man, who for
decades has had something to say, and said it. But is Ron Paul better
for it? Is America better for it?
I have yet to be convinced.
