History - I learned about a man named John Francis who stopped talking for 17 years. On his 27th birthday he decided to take a vow of silence. He liked it so much he kept silent the following day as well, then eventually 17 wordless years passed. He even obtained college degrees culminating in a Ph.D under his vow of silence. I yearned with fascination at what I could learn about myself if I gave up talking, so I decided to try it for a week. Not a laugh, not a sigh, nothing. The only sounds I allow myself to make are biological, sneeze, cough, belch, etc.
(An Article On Him)
01.01.2009 – DAY ONE
Today was the first day of the new year and the first day of my silence so I decided to go and hang out with some friends. I was picked up by my friend Lisa and she was completely unaware that I would not be talking. She asked me are you seriously not going to talk? I replied yes with a head nod.
On the way there I asked her to stop at Right-AID via pen and inc. I needed to get some Ben-Gay for my knee, it was killing me. This was my first experience in a store not being able to talk. I found immediately that I wanted to ask where the Ben-Gay was. Not being able to talk, I had to look for it my self, something I would not normally do. Upon completion of my purchase the cashier said thank you and have a nice day, I sadly could not respond. This gave me a bad feeling, not being able to tell her you’re welcome or to also wish her a nice day was upsetting to me.
At the house I was immediately bombarded with questions such as what happens if you laugh and what happens if you burp or sneeze, so on and so forth. After about 20 minutes of silent Q&A we watched a movie, and played skatogories. It was an eventful day. I was treated by a few friends as if I were helpless. I mind as well had been disabled. Not talking was leading to some very interesting social occurrences. I am a scientist at heart, and I was loving every minute of this.
01.02.2009 – DAY TWO
I went snow boarding in Vermont with my friends Nick and Galen. On the way up I wanted to partake in the car ride conversation, but a part of me was getting used to not talking. I was learning that a lot of what I said to my friends was just mindless chit chat. The only times I felt compelled to talk were in instinctual situations. Saying God Bless you after someone sneezes, or excuse me if I burped.
In the lodge, a woman with forms asked Galen and I to fill out a survey to get a free hot chocolate. I had signaled to Galen for him to add my e-mail address to her list because I wanted to do it too. He then told her, “he can’t talk, well actually he is not talking for a week as part of his New Years revolution, and he can hear and talk perfectly fine.” She then told me that what I am doing is very interesting, and Galen replied with “try living with him.” She then asked me to thumbs up if liked it, so I did.
It was on the top of the mountain that I slipped and uttered a word fragment. Galen and I were posing for a photo at the top of the mountain. It was a strenuous awkward pose, and Nick had been just aiming the camera at us for about a minute already, not taking one photo. Finally he said OK and put the camera down. Not seeing the flash go off as it did with the others; I started to say, “You didn’t even take it!” All that actually came out was “yo…” I decided to at that point start my vow over. A day and a half was down the drain.
01.03.2009 – DAY THREE Coming soon…