Echoes of silence

Though much ink has been spilled on the therapeutic, introspective, spiritual, imaginative, creative and mystical significance of silence, many of its vital aspects are overlooked as being insignificant in our part of the world. Far from being the road to truth, the language of God, the medium of wisdom and the voice of nature, silence in many instances, holds the treasures of messages that, when decoded, expose the very roots of the injustice and inequities prevalent in societies across the globe.

Though words might overflow with meanings, the silence is far from being empty and purposeless. Literally, it might look like an oxymoron, but deep down there are meanings that we usually show disregard for. This piece is, therefore, a bid to give tongue to the loaded silence which is otherwise neglected as inconsequential.

Silence is a paradigmatic way of transmitting certain emotions that are, in most instances, incomprehensible, unrecognised or unattended through verbal gestures. If words resonate with participation, silence is a symbol of protest. If talking is to communicate with the surrounding, silence is a strong complaint to the divine. If words are the tongue of the oppressor, silence is the grudge of the hapless.

When the screams of injustice and bestiality go unheeded, the oppressed take refuge in the lap of silence. Thereafter, the agonies, helplessness and resentment of the destitute often disguise as silence. It, mostly, is a manifestation of atrocity for the oppressed and the confession of the same by the oppressor. The silence of the destitute is, therefore, full of questions while that of the empowered is packed with answers.

Where the tyrant takes refuge in the fortress of justice, the victimised reluctantly retires in the throes of silence. However, such a reluctant retirement to silence is an excruciating cemetery with unaccomplished dreams, unaddressed grievances, unheeded cries and immaterialised efforts deep down buried underneath.

For instance, the haplessness of a barefooted child shivering in cold is full of questions as to why they, unlike many others, are destined to suffer such a fate of systematic deprivation. The silent streams of tears of a mother over the cold-blooded murder of her son are omens of misfortune in the earthly corridors of justice.

The dead silence preceding the suicide is a strong rebuke to the discouraging, judgmental and suffocating social milieu. The quietude of a diligent but systematically failed and unemployed candidate is the loud protest against the elite-sponsored marketing of jobs at exorbitant prices at the utter detriment of the deserving ones. The hapless silence of a white-collar poor reflects a fierce battle between his cursing conscious and the screaming children dying of hunger. Meanwhile, that of a destitute father is a deafening dissent against the shameful culture of dowry and status-conscious marital practices. Silence for the underprivileged lot becomes, therefore, a loud invective to the so-called guardians of society and the dictators of the status quo.

Amidst repressions of pandemic proportions, the deafening silence of the watchdogs, Lady Justitia and intelligentsia is an implied confession of being beneficiaries of the oppressive system and accomplices to the oppressed. It is, in its best possible shape, tantamount to an open revolt against truth, humanity and compassion.

But who cares about someone’s retirement to silence when even the screams of oppressed and hunger-stricken poor cannot trigger the conscience of the authorities? (I doubt if the use of the word ‘conscience’ is relevant for such a cold-hearted and unresponsive empowered lot.) Isn’t it pointless, either, to point out the messages the silence holds? It isn’t however. The tyranny and barbarism would continue to reign supreme unless the meanings encoded in the silence of the destitute and authoritative are unearthed and remedied accordingly. As emotional animals, we need to attend to the meanings that one’s silence wears and redress them for the larger good of humankind and humanity.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2022.

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