Epics for Children: Silence is Golden

The 30th President of the United States from 1923 to 1929, Calvin Coolidge, was given the nickname ‘Silent Cal’ because he was a man of few words and had a dry sense of humour. Though he spoke very little, or perhaps because of it, he chose his words and his actions carefully. He governed sensibly and remained extremely popular with the public. This is surprising for a politician because the general impression is that the profession of politics consists mainly of speaking. Many stories used to circulate about his silences. As per one of the stories, a person seated next to him at a dinner said to him:

‘I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you.’ ‘You lose,’ replied Coolidge.

Ancient Chinese philosopher and writer Lao Tzu is reported to have said, ‘Silence is a great source of strength.’ There is a story about him. Lao Tzu used to go on a morning walk with an old friend. The friend was accustomed to his long silences and they would take a walk for an hour or more in silence. One day, the friend brought along a guest. After they had walked in silence for long, the guest felt uncomfortable with nobody speaking anything, and said, ‘It’s a beautiful morning.’ 

The next day, when the friend came alone for the walk, Lao Tzu said, ‘Don’t bring your guest in future. He talks too much.’
‘But he only spoke one sentence in the entire walk.’
‘True, but even that was unnecessary,’ said Lao Tzu.
‘He only remarked that the morning was beautiful. In that, he did not lie.’
‘The morning was indeed beautiful. Its beauty was unlimited, but your guest, by speaking, put limits to it.’
Seeing his friend confused, Lao Tzu explained it to him.

‘The sun was rising and its red hues were spreading out from the east. The skies were a clear and shining blue. A gentle breeze was blowing. Birds were leaving their nests and going out in search of food. The forest was full of their happy chirping. If a man were speaking, even he should be stunned into silence by the beauty of such a morning. Your friend, on the other hand, was initially silent and started speaking on seeing it. Thus, he lessened the beauty of the morning.’

The moral of the story is that we should not speak in a situation where our words are not serving any purpose or where silence is more appropriate. At the same time, we have to be careful not to overdo it. Famous American poet, writer and critic Dorothy Parker had remarked on learning that Coolidge had died, ‘How can they tell?’