Tag: complaint

When goats don’t want to move,
they don’t make sounds.

They fold legs at bald knees,
bend rough necks to earth,
and just sink down.

They never

rant, rail,
protest, declaim,
debate, explain, and then,
head bowed, plod meekly
forward anyway,

as I did
as a child—
and still do now.
~Marcia Slatkin “The Virtue of Trusting One’s Own Mind”

I was always a compliant kid; I wouldn’t raise a fuss at home or at school when asked to do something I didn’t want to do. But, inside my head, my protests were loud, prolonged and dramatic, my arguments on point and logical. I just learned to keep my opinions to myself in order to keep the peace. I did what I had to do.

These days, I might not be so demure anymore. When the world is asking unreasonable things, I tend to say what I think. That doesn’t always go well so let the chips fall where they may.

There is something to be said for plodding ahead meekly, having said what needed to be said. The world needs plodders in order to keep turning. We can’t all throw tantrums; we need to face the hard things head on.

But at least, you will know how I feel about it…