Quiet, please. In a world that's too loud and contentious, let's stop talking start acting

Remember the Quiet Game? That lovely little game adults once used to calm us down and shut us up. Listening to the blather of our illimitable presidential debates left me wanting to pull the same thing my parents used to pull on me.

Excuse me, candidates. We’d like to use the balance of our time to play the Quiet Game.

Have you ever heard of the Indian holy man Meher Baba? Baba decided that words were a big part of our problems. That people had overused words – especially when it comes to talking about God.

We could say the same thing about politics.

Too many words!

So Baba stopped speaking. For 20 years. The Great Silent One, they called him. But during that time, he served people, listened, loved, prayed, meditated and smiled an awful lot. Thousands were touched by his ministry of silence.

I recently finished a lengthy biography of Thomas Merton, one of the most influential clergymen of the 20th century. Did you know that Merton was a Trappist monk? That’s right. He was a prolific writer but hardly spoke a word.

Merton and Baba weren’t small-fry guys like you and me. They were giants. Mountain movers. Yet they decided that language had become mostly unnecessary. Worse yet, it had gotten in the way. Fooled us even. And reduced our essence – at least what we perceive as our essence – to what we say instead of who we are. Like the strange brand of religion so popular in Southern churches where beliefs – and our words about those beliefs – have taken precedence over our behavior.

Baba and Merton sought to change that. They were determined to become their message. To actually be the kind of people others aspire to become.

Can you imagine what would happen if we all tried that for just one week? No more complaints. No more insults. No more arguments or explanations.

Heck, we wouldn’t even know who was on our side and who wasn’t.

I’m not sure I have the guts to even try it. I’m too worried about what other people would think of me. Crackpot. Unfriendly. Elitist.

Turning off our phones and our televisions might be easier than turning off our tongues. Not speaking to people feels a little awkward if not rude to my Southern sensibilities. Of course, we could always tell people we were going on a word fast or at least a diet.

Turning off our phones, on the other hand, would be greeted with delight by all those around us. Just imagine walking into a restaurant or doctor’s office and seeing people talking to each other instead of staring at their phones. Imagine people making eye contact. Smiling. And actually listening to one another instead of to the constant stream of music and chatter on their earbuds.

I’m not going to quit speaking altogether, but I am going to cut back. Every time I find myself wanting to complain, snap back, argue, whine or explain, I’m going to think about Thomas Merton and Meher Baba. Just sitting there. Playing the Quiet Game.

Buzz Thomas is a retired minister, constitutional law attorney and former interim superintendent of Knox County Schools.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: In a world that's too loud and contentious, let's stop talking so much