๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ : ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฉ ๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ง
This morning started with humidity and fog drifting off the patio. The plants were coated in heavy dew, and the air just felt thick. Itโs Monday, and for a lot of folks, this kicks off a busy week with the start of the Indiana State Fair.
With my mind on the swine and sheep shows down in Indianapolis, a memory showed up on my Facebook feed from eight years agoโand it really hit home:
๐๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต'๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐จ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐, ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ.
๐๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต.
๐๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ธ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฏ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.โ
๐๐ฏ ๐๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ. ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ.
When I read that memory, I immediately got goosebumps. I remembered how awkward it felt to be the only one clapping, and the disbelief that I was the only one who agreed with what the judge said.
But as I think back on that night, maybe that reaction was exactly what I should have expected. Someone says something โcontroversialโ that many quietly agree with, and the room goes silent. No one wants to be labeled. Nobody wants to be the first to respond. Yet plenty nod along once the pressure is off.
And it is not just in show barns. I have seen it in meetings too. A plan or idea gets floated that does not make sense, and nobody says a word. The bad idea picks up steam, not because people agree, but because they are afraid to push back.
It is a reminder: silence is not always agreement. And sometimes, courage just looks like clapping when no one else will.