Voices

As I write these words, they sound in my head. There is a voice attached to them. It is my voice, or the voice I imagine having. Hearing my own voice on a tape recording always stuns me; that can’t be how I sound. But it is. To others. Just not to me.

Anyway, the voice is an almost-hearing thing. I hear myself speak the words I write. Do you? And when I read someone else’s words, I hear a voice. Of course, it is an imagined voice because I don’t know what the author’s voice sounds like. But there it is, it is a word read but also ‘heard’.

At a public reading the other day, I warned the audience that I write to be read, not heard. And so how my sounds are experienced by others is likely much different than what I have written and emoted.

Similarly, each of us has a point of view. We speak it. We write it. We behave in the real world based on what our points of view are. We each have a voice.

That same public reading the other day impressed on me how we are surrounded by so many voices, each with a different message or tilt to it. It makes our minds think in different ways, captures meanings in an endless permutation of meanings. That process is good in that it gives me the opportunity to think differently than I already do. This is the real world abutting mine. It helps me understand things better, broader. I don’t necessarily agree with all I hear, but it does interact with my voice. It likely changes my voice as well.

It is important that society has channels for our many voices to be exercised, published, spoken, heard, read. It is important that we feel and try to understand each voice. This is another aspect of democracy. It is real in our daily lives. It is part of the greater reality.

Not surprising, really. No, this is part of life. For me, it is a manner of questioning what I believe and/or think. Saying something makes it seem more real. Knowing someone else is going to hear it and possibly react to it, gives me a sense of weight to the meaning of the words. Am I correct in understanding the facts of the matter, the use of the right vocabulary? I won’t know until I confront how others react to those ideas. It is a free form of social interaction. Important interaction that informs me of so many things.

One of those things is, I may not be correct in my thinking. I may not fully understand a topic and need to dig deeper. But I cannot know any of this if I don’t allow my mind to be affected by the voice of others. It is as simple as that.

Together we come to better, fuller understanding. We cannot do this fully without sharing voices. And so, we do. In conversation, letters to the editor, blogs and personal correspondence. If we are open to one another, we gain some measure of understanding broader than what we can produce on our own.

Some voices do not work well with others, only because there is an embedded value or attitude that barricades the sharing of ideas. Too bad. Both parties could benefit from hearing the other’s voice.

We should do this. It takes trying. It requires patience. It demands discipline within. And that’s a personal thing.

Do we hear all the voices we need to hear?

April 24, 2024

 

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