How Having The Courage to Speak Can Help Others

Many years ago I was leading a seminar and I was having some trouble getting the kids in the audience to come out and share. It was the end of 4 day life in the spirit seminar and it was now time for the participants to share their experience of what they learned.

They were quite a rowdy bunch of kids, I’d never come across such a rebellious group of kids in my time as a youth leader. Standing there facing them with nobody volunteering to be the first to share, I knew I had to do something, say ANYTHING.

Knowing that the cause of the fear was a group of heckling kids who would make fun of anyone who tried to open up, I made it a point to try and convince the crowd of 400 something 13 to 15 year olds that there was nothing to fear.

What I said went something like this,

” I remember years ago when I was in your position, I too was afraid to stand up and share. I was always afraid someone would laugh at me if I opened myself up, so I never did it. One day though, I remember someone coming up to share. He was afraid and nervous and some people even laughed at him for standing there. Slowly but surely, stammering as he spoke, he shared what he had learned during that seminar.

What he said was nothing really spectacular, but the courage he showed in standing up in front of hundreds of people just to share really impressed me. Later on when we were all going home, I asked him how he managed to stir up the courage to share. What he told me was even though he was afraid,he believed that if he could help one person through his sharing, it didn’t matter if people made fun of him.

This made me really think alot about the times I decided to keep silent when I knew I had something to say. Instead of focusing on the embarrassment I might feel if people laughed, I felt that I instead should have been focusing more on helping the few people in the crowd who were hoping someone would say what they were too afraid to say.

I’ve found that during the occasions that I just put myself out there and spoke, a lot of people didn’t care, but afterwards there were those that came up to me and told me that what I had said had really helped them overcome an issue they had been facing. I hope that those of you who think you want to share but are afraid will think about this.”

For about 20 seconds I stood silently there at the podium. Nobody was moving and I had begun to feel like my words hadn’t reached anyone. As I began my second attempt at encouraging them to share, someone stepped out of the crowd. I sighed a breath of relief, my words had reached someone.

After the first sharing that was all it took. More and more kids began coming up to share, some even broke down in tears because it was the first time they had so openly expressed their feelings in front of a large crowd. Their courage really touched me and I’m reminded of this event every time I’m faced with the question of whether I should voice my opinion or not.

The lesson I learned

You might feel that most of the time what you say doesn’t matter. The thing I have found though is that having just abit of courage to speak your mind can go a long way in making a difference, whether it be in a work project or in someone else’s life.

Think about that the next time you think you have a good idea but your lips don’t move and your heart is beating out of your chest. You never know whose life you could change.

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Tagged as: courage, crowd, open, opinion, overcome fear, public, public speaking, speaking, voice