Last Friday, I participated in the "Day of Silence," a movement where participants go silent for 24 hours to observe the silencing that others experience due to anti-LGBT bullying. 

Remaining silent for a day was definitely an experience for me. I made it through a regular school day, then an afterschool class, and then a tennis lesson. It was very hard. I'll be honest and admit that I did indeed trip up a few times--sometimes I would whisper "hi" or "sorry" to my friends, and I even had an entire conversation with someone without realizing that I wasn't supposed to be talking. Out of the whole day, I think I spoke a total of 200 or so words. It's not 0, but it's definitely a very, very small amount. 

The LGBT movement is one is particularly close to my heart, so I was very happy to be able to support it in any way possible (even if it meant some embarrassing moments when I couldn't talk to important people and I just made some weird choking noises instead.)

My sister chose not to participate in the event, and we discussed the movement from two sides, after the day was over. Her view was that the day of silence didn't "do" anything for anti-LGBT bullying, and that she thought it was more of a "mute awareness" day than anything else. I'm not quite sure what to think, except for the very cliché: "it's the thought that counts." 

However, here's what I do know: when you don't talk, you think. A lot. I also felt the urgent need to make a noise, any kind of noise, because I felt like I was suffocating in my own silence. I hummed many tunes to make up for my lack of words. I also sighed a lot--which I usually don't do.

If anything, it made me feel grateful for a voice.