Full transcript of spontaneous monologue "You Have to Speak Truth"

Some people speak as they think, and that's their method of thinking, is to speak. Some people never speak. Some people don't believe they have a voice. Some people have a history of having been asked to be silent. Some people are afraid of what happens when they speak, because once, maybe something happened when they spoke. Maybe it was something really bad. Maybe it just scared them a lot. Maybe they were very young when it happened. Maybe they saw something happen to somebody else. Maybe they saw an image on a screen, of something happening to somebody. And they believed that it was happening to them, because that's how our brains respond to images we see. And so forever they've been a little more silent. A little more silent, maybe a lot more silent, than they otherwise would've been. Maybe they've spent the rest of their lives being silent.

Although, sometimes people start...sometimes people, they stick out a little bit. They want to see what happens. What happens if I stop being silent? I mean, I know that I'm not supposed to speak, and I know that everybody disagrees with me, and I know that even though some people agree with me, they're not going to stand up with me when I speak, because they're afraid, too. And they'd probably just like to let me go down. They're glad it's not happening to them. Maybe they're a little bit happy that I spoke and said something that was true, but they're a little bit...they're not...

Maybe they, maybe they walk over next to me when I'm speaking. Maybe they see me speaking and it gives them an idea. Maybe they could, well, not quite speak, but maybe they could just stand next to me, and, well, they could... Yeah, they're just nodding their head, the person came up next to me, and they're not saying anything, but they're nodding their head. They look like they're agreeing. They're expressing some kind of support. It makes me a little less afraid to speak now. And there's someone, I can see someone off in the distance, and they, they, they're kind of, almost, it looks like they're laughing at me, and I feel scared again, I feel like maybe I shouldn't be speaking. Someone over there is taking notes. Someone over there is filming me, pointing a camera, and I don't know what's going to happen next.

It makes me a little nervous that I'm speaking, that I'm saying the truth, and I, I remember, I've watched a lot of people start speaking the truth, and then find a way to start qualifying it, and checking, making sort of disclaimers, and retreating a bit. And I know I could do that, maybe I would be safe then, because I see a lot of people out there in the crowd who, well, maybe they'll leave me alone if I just do that.

But, two more people have walked over next to me already, and they're shaking their heads, and, I look back at the crowd, and there's still that person who looks sort of mean and unhappy. But, I look more carefully, I start to be very methodical, and I look face by face, one by one, instead of looking where my emotion brings my eyes, and I look one by one at all the faces. And, most people aren't laughing. Most people, most people are looking, and they're...they don't have a threatening posture at all, and some of them are shaking their heads too. And, there's even someone who's smiling, someone who's nodding vigorously. And I decide to keep speaking. I decide to speak more truth.

Although, I see there's a person sort of inching closer to me, and they, I can't tell what they have in their hands, but it looks like it might be something dangerous. But it, that makes me more... I start to get excited, and, although I'm scared, I realize it just, it wakes me up, and it makes things seem a little more pressing. It's a little more urgent that I say the things that are true, I say the things that I know. I realize that a lot of people also think these things, even if I don't usually hear speaking them, but, as I think about it, sometimes I do hear people speak the true things. Of course, that's why I'm so nervous about saying them, because I've seen those people get punished for speaking those things, and... but, it's going to be OK, it doesn't matter what's going to happen next, because the truth has to be said, we have to speak out what's real. Of course we do.

And other people are starting to speak now. Other people are now realizing it's OK to speak, and we're sort of like a little... we're a little crowd now, a whole lot of people, who are happy to finally start speaking some truth. And the crowd is growing, the crowd is growing, because the truths that are being spoken, they're about almost everyone. The only people who stand to suffer from these truths coming out are... well, there are just a few of them. People who are taking advantage of a certain amount of power that they have, by keeping people afraid, by keeping people afraid to speak basic, obvious truths all the time. Keeping people afraid to trust their own feelings. Afraid they'll be lumped in with some or another ostracized group. They accidentally say something that overlaps with something that one of those groups says. And, wracking their brains, realizing that there's nothing really true that you could say that hasn't already been coopted by some ostracized group.

That doesn't seem it make it any less true, what you're saying, and so you go on and you say it, you just, you just, you have to speak truth, because, what are you here for? And, to encourage others to know that they can accept and speak truth. And you say it, you say it passionately, but you say it with a gentleness that recognizes that what is your truth might not be everyone else's truth. You say it from your heart, as you intend for your truth to be beneficial to most people. You're able to feel, still, still carefully a judgment when you noticed that somebody is very obviously not speaking truth. You can be compassionate, and realize all the reasons why they aren't speaking truth. You can realize that somewhere along the chain, they, too, are afraid.

Even if they're way up at the top, and they're exploiting the most power, even if they're very self-aware of this whole process - why wouldn't they be? There are entire books on the subject, seminars, teaching, entire courseworks, films... It's no secret how power operates. It's not a secret. It's one of those things that's sometimes just like a truth that you might be afraid to speak about, but everybody knows. And, still, you can find compassion for the people who are taking advantage of their positions of power, while also still continuing to feel judgment that that abuse of power, for whatever reason it's going on, even as you can find your heart about it, and you can imagine the heart that those people are trying to come from...

You can still know that it is not the best thing for most people, and you can still stop that thing from happening. You can still stop that thing from happening. You don't have to become a bad person to stop bad things from happening - not at all. It's possible that doing nothing, and saying nothing, and just taking care of yourself, and staying really quiet, it's possible that this might be the problem, in the system of problems. The problem that you have to face right now. Not the only problem.

It is a problem when somebody does something that's very harmful to many people. It's also a problem when most people who have the power to do something to stop that from happening aren't doing something. Aren't even recognizing that they are most people, and, most people - that's a lot of people. That's a lot of power. So, remember that power that you have, because you are not alone, if you try to act in the best interests of most people. You are in very massive company.

And it may be scary, but you will be supported, and you will be helping the world be better for most people. Not just you, not just your friends, not just the people you aspire to be, but most people. And sometimes you have to think really hard to imagine most people, because that's a lot of people. You don't usually see most people. Sometimes you see simulated views of most people that are probably not representative of most people. Maybe go around the world and look carefully, with your eyes, not with your screens, and try to learn, what is it that most people would benefit from.

And then, speak your truth. And you speak it as loud as you need to speak it, and you don't let people stop you from speaking. Not if they're doing it with force. Not if they're doing it with coersion. Not if they're doing it from a place that's so obviously not true.

While there's still time...