In our modern world of media, getting your ideas out there is easier than ever.  However, amongst the sea of billions of opinion, letting your voice be heard is still ridiculously difficult.  Often people revert to grand acts to let their voices be heard.  They will protest or go out on marches.  Sometimes people will even go to such extremes as acts of violence.  So sitting at home, being nothing but an ordinary teenager like the billions of them out there, it is more than easy to feel like you are not heard.  While you do what billions of other people your age do, how are you supposed to remotely let the world hear those colorful and wondrous ideas inside your head?  Unfortunately, the answer is a bit of an oxymoron.  The loudest sound that we can make is often actually silent.

This silence can come in many forms.  If the entire world suddenly stopped buying products produced by child laborers, then these industries would go out business purposefully.  No warning will come from the media.  No loud marches.  It is just one simple act done by enough people around the world to make a difference.  One tiny act that everyone can do could completely bankrupt child laborer industries.  This one thing is so simple, so small that anyone could do it.  If everyone stopped to consider the power of one silent act, perhaps we could solve many more of the world’s problems without the need of war or violence.

Rather than signing petitions or having marches to save the oceans, if everyone were just to stop littering and start thinking about what they throw away, we would be twenty steps ahead of signing petitions and hosting marches.  Yes, use the media to spread knowledge about the problem at hand, but don’t waste your time on these grand schemes.  Do your part.  Help others do their part.  If everyone just stopped putting harmful items in their trash and stopped littering completely, we would have just ended one of the largest contributors to the ocean pollution.  No one has to yell or post pictures of him or her doing it; we could all silently save the ocean.  We have that power!  You, me, any person that you can think of, we have the power in our hands.

Here comes another oxymoron, our silence can be heard through our music.  Millions, if not billions, of people, watch music videos nowadays.  What do we see?  Well, we see awesome dance routines and well choreographed dance numbers.  The creators of these videos have the power to show millions of people whatever they want.  They have the power to spread the word of any number of problems that go unnoticed by most of the world’s population.  They have the power to tell the world to rally themselves and fight the world’s problems with one silent act at a time.

I am not much of an artist at all, but there are so many artists out there.  Thousands upon thousands of people look and stare and appreciate art.  Art has the power to spread messages without words.  Ever heard of the phrase that a picture holds a thousand words.  Well then show the world your voice of a thousand words in that one picture.  Change the world through your art.  Through art, you can spread the message of the silent actions that can change our world.  That is your power.  It is unique to each person because no two people are the same.  Your art, your voice is your power, and it does not belong to anyone but you.  Use it!

Regardless of whether you read a little or read a lot like me, I think that we can all agree that everyone at some point in their lives has read something.  We read books, the news, and magazines like TeenInk.  You might even read the little stories that manufacturers print on their packages.  My point is, writing is all around us, and if you write, then you have the power to spread the word to change the world of your silent protest.  From double meanings in a fantasy novel to simply writing exactly what you are thinking, you need to write down your silent protest.  But it is so difficult to get people to read your writing!  So how in the world are you to make a difference with writing when you have so few views?  It doesn’t matter whether you have one hundred views or a thousand views.  The people who read your writing will remember it and spread your words through word of mouth.  Although only one hundred people may have read your writing, a thousand people could have heard your words.  You have the ability to silently spread the word of the small and silent actions that will change the world.

I could continue to ramble on about a bunch of other silent ways you can change the world, but I think that you get the picture.  So don’t just sit around and squander your talents and time.  Use it, and use it well to change the world.  Change starts with each and every one of us.  Change starts with you!  Remember, you have the power to change the world through your silence.  Will you join me and change the world with your silence?  I ask if you will use your silence to give voice to ideas that can redefine our world?  Because once you start using your silent voice, others who have ‘no voice’ can yell out their ideas with silence.  I ask you to join me to shake the world with silence.