The Voices of Our Time

2009 has been quite a year when it comes to communication. I am specifically referring here to the voices we hear. No, not just the ones in our heads, but the ones coming from our televisions, radios, computers and other sources. Collectively, they are a major part of our daily landscape and are the loudest voices in our society. They come into our our living rooms, our cars, and our offices all packaged in serious tones, smiles, jokes, grimaces, anger, frustration, arrogance, curiosity, and even kindness. We find them, at times, comforting, funny, appalling, distracting, nonsensical, annoying, informative, engaging and off-putting. We like them. We don't like them. We need them, yet often pretend we don't. The mouths from which they erupt include those of commentators, comedians, television personalities, newscasters, disc jockeys, actors, entertainers, elected officials and even non-celebrities. These voices are a significant part of our lives and, in many ways, play a vital role in helping shape our bases of knowledge, values, perspectives and, at times, daily habits. Whether we like it or not, that is a lot of influence.

Are we their prisoners? I hope not. Do they have a hold on us that we cannot break? Maybe. But it does not have to be that way. After all, two weapons are in our favor - two big ones - our spirit and our brains. While these voices may be inescapable, their degree of influence is only as great as we allow them to be. We can, after all, think for ourselves. We can ask questions. We can challenge what we hear. With effort, we can separate those who babble and talk nonsense from those who do not even though that may not be as easy as it may sound. Some of those nonsense talkers can be pretty tricky at times. One other thing we can do is not limit ourselves to the voices we allow into our heads. All those voices do not have to agree. They can represent a wide range of views and perspectives, thus giving us greater opportunity to analyze what we hear and then make choices based on intellect, not just emotion. Doing that allows our own voice, the one that should have the most influence over us of all, to maintain its rightful place.