Say Something, a compilation by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

It’s very difficult to speak to a lot of people without offending someone. People walk around with their feelings on their shoulders waiting for you to say something. Opinion police are out there all the time. We have actually reached the point where people are afraid to actually talk about what they want to say because somebody might be offended.

I am reminded of a very successful business man who loves to buy his mother these exotic gifts for mother’s day. One year, he ran out of ideas on what to buy and then, he ran across these birds. These birds were cool, you know? They cost $5000 apiece. They could dance, they could sing, they could talk! He was so excited, he bought two of them. Sent them to his mother and couldn’t wait to call her up on mothers day, ‘’mother, mother, what’d you think of those birds?’’ And she said, ‘’they was good.’.

He said, No, no, no, mother, you didn’t eat those birds? Those birds cost $5000 apiece. They could dance, they could sing, they could talk! And she said, well, they should have said something. You know, that’s where we’ll end up too, if we don’t speak up for what we believe. And you know, what we need to do in this pc world is forget about unanimity of speech and unanimity of thought, and we need to concentrate on being respectful to those people with whom we disagree. That’s when I think we begin to make real progress.

We seem to have lost our ability to discuss important issues respectfully and courteously and cannot come together enough to begin to solve our problems.

Communities, political parties, business organizations, the news media, educational institutions and government can all work to turn our nation around, but most important changes will be made by you and me. Each of us can control only our own behavior, but if we all take action individually, our actions will collectively have a significant impact on the direction of our nation. As individuals, we can educate ourselves and our children,cultivate the art of compromise, pray for wisdom and hold our representative accountable. Each of us can positively affect our nation just by making ourselves (and those in our sphere of influence) aware of the fact that we are being used as pawns by those who try to tell us what we should think as opposed to using our own common sense.
Compiled from Ben Carson’s compilation.

I am reminded of a very successful business man who loves to buy his mother these exotic gifts for mother’s day. One year, he ran out of ideas on what to buy and then, he ran across these birds. These birds were cool, you know? They cost $5000 apiece. They could dance, they could sing, they could talk! He was so excited, he bought two of them. Sent them to his mother and couldn’t wait to call her up on mothers day, ‘’mother, mother, what’d you think of those birds?’’ And she said, ‘’they was good.’. He said, No, no, no, mother, you didn’t eat those birds? Those birds cost $5000 apiece.

They could dance, they could sing, they could talk! And she said, well, they should have said something. You know, that’s where we’ll end up too, if we don’t speak up for what we believe.

And you know, what we need to do in this pc world is forget about unanimity of speech and unanimity of thought, and we need to concentrate on being respectful to those people with whom we disagree. That’s when I think we begin to make real progress.

We seem to have lost our ability to discuss important issues respectfully and courteously and cannot come together enough to begin to solve our problems.

Communities, political parties, business organizations, the news media, educational institutions and government can all work to turn our nation around, but most important changes will be made by you and me. Each of us can control only our own behavior, but if we all take action individually, our actions will collectively have a significant impact on the direction of our nation. As individuals, we can educate ourselves and our children,cultivate the art of compromise, pray for wisdom and hold our representative accountable. Each of us can positively affect our nation just by making ourselves (and those in our sphere of influence) aware of the fact that we are being used as pawns by those who try to tell us what we should think as opposed to using our own common sense.

Compiled by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat from a book by Ben Carso