This week has been a combination frustration/self-education time for me.  The frustration was that I had to undergo vocal cord surgery for the fifth time in the past 15 years. The surgery was a success and I am now just waiting out the next few days in total silence. The note writing is a challenge for all who have to tolerate my handwriting skills. 

I have determined to do my part to stop this vocal cord destruction every few years. It is difficult when you are a preacher, singer, talker, sports fan and general transferer of information to the entire population. My style will now change. I will make every attempt to speak more clearly, pace my oratory a little slower, attempt to be effective without yelling, leave the umpires and referees to their own failures and write more than speak. Perhaps the most enlightening reality I have discovered during this silence is how often I would have spoken, corrected, interrupted, declared and waxed eloquent if only I could use my voice. I also realized how I would have dominated the conversation.  I have noticed how much people were waundering in their own ignorance without my verbal contradictions. Mostly I noticed without my voice I could not make the final declaration on the subject before I walked out without listening to any other opinion. 

 Boy, have I missed my voice! To my family, staff, neighbors and the general population I want to apologize for how I have made you struggle through this time without my vocal strength and leadership gifts. That is the apology I would like to give but not the apology I should give. Let me just say a big thank you for your longsuffering patience in the past and thank you, Lord, for the silence that let me not hear myself for a change and with God’s help and my friends’ continued love, I hope to have learned this valuable lesson. Speak softer, speak less, listen more and never speak so much your voice just mixes with the other usual sound pollutants we all endure. Oh! One last thing I wanted to say…No! It can wait.