August 11
Why do you want to be like the ordinary thread? Be the purple: the small, bright stripe that gives the whole garment its dignity.
Discourses I,2
Listening mode
Why do you want to be like the ordinary thread? Be the purple: the small, bright stripe that gives the whole garment its dignity.
When everyone in the room has already agreed, an objection costs more than the one sentence. You make the meeting run longer. You turn the others into people who might have overlooked something. And perhaps you have overlooked something yourself.
The request to fit in rarely comes as pressure. Usually it sounds reasonable: it's late already, the matter isn't that important, you don't have to defend every little thing. Often that's true, too. Not every difference you could make is one you should make. Anyone who sets themselves apart at every opportunity soon becomes predictable in turn.
What's harder is telling the wish to stand out from the moment when your objection would actually be missed. From inside, the two feel alike: a quicker pulse, a hesitation, the knowledge that silence would be more comfortable. Only afterwards does it become clear which of the two it was, and sometimes never.
Then you raise your hand after all. The others look at you, not unkindly; tired, if anything. In your head the sentence had sounded more decisive.
