In defense of quiet people

I am a quiet person.

You would not know this by reading my blog. Here I’m all, “Blah, blah, blah, chocolate, blah, blah, blah, headache,” but when I’m not typing on my laptop, I tend to keep my mouth shut. I tend to keep my mouth shut when I’m typing on my laptop too because talking while typing is weird.

To be a quiet person is to always be defending your right to silence. No, there is nothing wrong with me. If I don’t have anything to say, I don’t say anything, and I’m often thinking things I know better than to say out loud. But to be quiet is to be thought defective or stupid. It’s having a Kindergarten teacher who wants to hold you back because you don’t socialize with the other kids. (Who wants to chat with Kindergarteners anyway?) It’s having a professor tell you, “I always worry about the quiet ones.” It’s riding in elevators, knowing you’re supposed to chat about how cold it’s been but not being able to bring yourself [...]

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