Is It Better To Speak Or To Die?

To speak can often lead to death. In an awful twisted way of events in which the paths merge together anyway, speaking would have no different of an outcome then silence, but silence can drive a person into their own mind with the possibilities. In which, they could’ve had terrible endings or beautiful endings. The thought that they could’ve had something amazing, but they were too afraid to take the risk. That is the part about silence that makes it absolutely unbearable.

So the answer is to speak. There is always a chance that you will die anyway. Speaking may speed that up, but there is that small chance that you won’t die. That is worth everything. Even if speaking does end up speeding up death, at least you know. At least you know that you took the risk, and you now know the outcome. You are not pledged with the endless thoughts of the possibilities of having spoken. Whether you die or you’re embarrassed, whether you’re misunderstood or shamed, you now know. Knowledge will prevent the possibilities to crumble you from the inside out. To speak is to know, and while they often cross paths, at least you will not die knowing you never spoke.

It’s in the way that one man may look at a piece of text, but he may have absolutely no desire to read it while others are hooked on the text in an instant. The way that they cannot rest until they know the story, until they have satisfied that need for knowledge that they had a short glance into.

I thirst for knowledge in the way a starving man may crave food. I want to know everything I can about the objects around me, the history of them, and even the people surrounding me. Whether I obtain that knowledge by conversation or reading, I quench my thirst for knowledge by doing something about it.

I would not be able to live with myself if I chose not to speak. The outcome doesn’t matter as much as the madness I would be consumed by upon not knowing what would’ve happened had I spoke. It matters not the reaction, but the fact that I spoke. The fact that I will not face the endless void of possibilities because I finally spoke up. 

I know whether or not I would’ve reached that small chance of greatness, or happiness. I do not have to wonder whether I would have died or succeed had I spoke. I will know. I will know, and I might have even succeeded.

-Remus John Lupin