We’ve all heard the story about the boy who would not
speak. As he grew up he did the normal
things like crawl and then walk and he seemed to be a normal boy, but he never
spoke. His parents tried to teach him to
talk but he would remain mute. They took
the boy to a doctor who examined him and proclaimed him to be healthy and
declared there was no physical problem.
However, despite all his parents’ attempts to get him to speak, he
remained silent. It was decided that he
probably would never speak.
One night at dinner, the boy took a mouthful of food and
after swallowing it he said, “The beans are cold.”
His parents were shocked and his father said, “You
spoke! You actually can talk. Why haven’t you
said anything before now?”
“Well,” said the boy, “I haven’t needed to. Up to now, everything has been okay.”
That old joke reminds me of the goings-on at the Supreme
Court yesterday. Judge Clarence Thomas
broke his seven year silence and spoke four words. Unfortunately, we aren’t sure what they were.
“Well, he did not…” is the best guess of what he said. He reportedly began to make some kind of a
joke and was cut off by laughter and then he shut up.
Thomas has never asked a question in seven years of serving
on the court. The job of the Supreme Court
is to question decisions made by lower courts and the justices ask questions in
open court to determine whether the rule of law was followed in those lower
court proceedings.
In the early days of my own career, I was sometimes intimidated
by the more senior people I worked with and usually kept quiet in
meetings. As my career proceeded,
however, I felt my own knowledge and experiences were important and I felt I
was not doing my job if I didn’t interject that intellectual capital in company
decisions.
Sometimes it is better to keep quiet if there is nothing
important to contribute, but it seems to me that a senior person who has
collected important knowledge over his lifetime should open his mouth
sometimes.
I am not saying Clarence Thomas is not doing his job nor am
I questioning his qualifications, but I am just saying it would be good for him
to put his two cents into the discussion.
I would like to see him ask a question once in a while or, at least,
mutter some words so we know he is paying attention.
Or that he is not dozing.
That’s what they pay us retired people to do.
