Sunday Poser #233 – Speaking Up

Published on by Yinglan

Are you the person who will speak up if you see a wrong being done? Or will you keep quiet?

What about you? Do you take a stand when you see injustice happening? Are you the one speaking out against it?

My mom and I are the complete opposite when it comes to this. I am not that kind of person at all. I’m the type to wait for others to speak up because I have an irrational fear of getting things wrong and causing retaliations from others.

My fear originated from my mom. I remember there were a few instances when I pointed out that she put in the wrong code for the produce (i.e. the code for romaine lettuce for green-leaf lettuce) at the self-checkout register at the grocery store. “Who cares?!” She said. “It’s the same price!” It then followed by a 30-minute lecture to mind my own damn business.

Also, mind you, I wasn’t a child when I did this, I was in my early 20’s – in college. So you can see why it’s so hard for me to speak up, right? Who knows what will happen next time? What if I speak up and the offender punches me or worse, kills me? No thanks.

I’m trying to get over that fear though thanks to my boss at work.

I have been pointing things out lately at work, like customers not following instructions or just ignorant of the instructions and people getting the prices wrong on items, though that’s not any injustice in the world, it’s still something that will cause a lot less headaches in the future.

Baby steps.

Sunday Poser

7 thoughts on “Sunday Poser #233 – Speaking Up”

  1. Baby steps. Yes. These little things matter down the line. Stock control was part of my jobs – few.
    Learning to use your voice is important. Baby steps.
    But I am the opposite.
    I once stopped two Indian young men that were fighting at a dance in the church hall. I bullied them outside not noticing the hush that fell in the hall as I did so. I came back satisfied we could carry on dancing.
    “Mom!!’ They had guns!!”
    My children admonished me.
    I didn’t see the guns, but I doubt it would have stopped me.

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  3. I am somewhere in the middle of your mom and you. Most people see me as a quiet, introverted person. Those close to me who know me best, know that I do not ever hesitated to stand up for someone being treated unfairly or made fun of. All my “mother bear” instincts go up and I’ll be in the offender’s face in a second without thinking first. Yup, not always the smartest thing to do. 😏

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  4. Baby steps it is. I can relate to you, I learned to keep quiet about my opinions in my family because I’m the only one who thinks that way and I fear rejection. I am bad at standing up for myself, but I also make baby steps to raise my voice.

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