Speaking in silence

The other day, I was doing after dinner clean up, which is slightly harder for me than most people because there are 9 people eating in my house, when my parents sent my little sister downstairs to assist me.

At the time, I was very irritated with my sister for a reason which is irrelevant to the story... But which I remember because I can hold grudges longer than it takes watching a game of golf to get exciting; which can be a long time...

I am guilty of watching the US OPEN

 She decided (knowing why I was irritated with her) that she was going to try and convince me that my irritation was unjustified; which is the worst thing you can do to someone who's angry in my opinion. In response to her onslaught of words, I was pointing at her and growling like an untamed lion "Sweep in silence." repeatedly (she had a broom which she was suppose to be using, sitting idly in her hand) .

This continued until, by some strange tongue twist of fate, I said  "You can speak in silence!" instead of "You can sweep in silence.", she promptly stated that it was impossible to speak in silence, and I, unwilling to be beaten, retorted that she could use sign language to talk with me.

But then I started to think about it, "speaking in silence" really sounded too deep to just refer to non verbal forms of communication, and (after I had cooled down a bit) I asked myself, is there such a thing as "speaking in silence"?

Some things came to mind almost immediately.
The first thing that I thought of was songs that use similar phrases, like Simon and Garfunkles "sound of silence" and U2's "running to a stand still" ("cry without weeping, Talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElHvKTibprs

I wanted to know the meaning of the songs, what were they talking about? So I turned to the largest library ever created to my knowledge... The internet. 

It turned out, running to a stand still is about the struggles of addiction, specifically drugs; can people who are struggling, not just with addiction but in general, speak in silence? I believe so; have you ever recognized when someone you knew was going through some hard times without them having to say it? I have. It's just something you pick up on if you know the person well enough. 

So that's one way people can speak silently.

According to Wikipedia, Garfunkle once said the song "sound of silence" meant "the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other."

People who can't communicate emotionally. Hm.
So the meanings of the two songs are loosely related in the sense that that both run back to that inability to communicate something.

But the things that really stuck with me when thinking over "speaking in silence" was sadness, specifically in relation to the loss of a loved one. A weeping person bent over their loved one's grave needs no words, they don't need to say "My friend/wife/child/etc. died." For you to understand, and even feel the sadness they're feeling.  And joy, when you are around someone whose face has a huge smile and the happiness reaches their eyes, you will also feel their happiness... Unless you're a grinch.

Let me know if you've ever felt someone speak in silence, or if you believe you've done it yourself. -Y