but why are you doing this?
No Lost Voices is so much a part of my heart that I was completely unprepared for the question.
“Why are you doing this?”
There was some skepticism, maybe a fear that I’d show up and deliver some kind of sales pitch.
Well, I actually understood that when I thought about it later. I’d just come from a presentation much like that. The promised information was re-promised — for $3000. If you purchased before leaving the room.
But the idea that I could be perceived that way hadn’t really occurred to me as an issue.
It was a good question, I decided. Tough questions often are.
So no, No Lost Voices is not a sales pitch. I’m committed to this project because I intend to make a difference.
There’s far too much needless pain that results when people are prevented from speaking. I want to get people talking about that. I want to get parents — and teachers –thinking about it for their kids. And I want to free up those voices because our communities need them.
But most of all it’s because each individual human being is entitled to self-expression. Without it, our sparks dim and become buried out of our reach, hopelessness gains ground, despair sets in. Human beings should not be locked away inside themselves.
Not ever.
That’s the why of the No Lost Voices challenge.
