Silence is Golden

A cover by the Tremeloes of a Four Seasons song, I think;  the Tremeloes' biggest hit, and one of the first singles I bought (the first, by the way, was 'Cast Your Fate to the Wind' by Sounds Orchestral, which is still one of the tracks on my mp3).  I loved the song 'Silence is Golden', and still do, though that isn't among the tracks on my mp3 player.  'Silence is golden, but my eyes still see,' the singer tells us.

I'll not bother looking it up now - it's far too late at night as I sit here writing this - but I'm fairly sure that it's the apostle James, among the New Testament writers, who gives us his opinion on the human tongue as a means of doing great damage.  We are beginning to realise that bullying, in school or in the work place, is just as real when it's words, rather than fists, that are used to belittle or harm or ridicule someone.  A word out of turn, carelessly spoken, can have immense repercussions, and we should all be careful to guard our tongues ('Do not initiate vocal chords without first engaging brain' is a good mantra to hold to).  A word deliberately spoken with the intention to do damage is, for me, something quite reprehensible - even if what is said is true, if it is said in order to do harm rather than with good intent, it would be better left unsaid.

Silence is golden.  But perhaps the song is more about seeing some harm being done, seeing someone sad and hurt, and keeping quiet about it, saying nothing.  We do that so often, not wanting to poke our nose in, and influenced perhaps by the stories one hears about those who do get involved and speak out getting nothing but trouble for their pains.  Or else, of course, we just want a quiet life.  'It isn't really my concern,' we might say, and in the next breath, 'but it's a crying shame someone doesn't do something!'

How often we just sit and let things happen!  Evil comes into the world (as someone said, I've no idea who) not so much because bad people do bad things, as because good people let them.  So how golden is silence after all?