Publisher’s Introduction
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It would be easy—well, common place—to mount great anger and even blame against a society and its individuals who perpetuate values based on appearance rather than authenticity, denial rather than exploration, and the maintenance of systems, no matter how archaic, that favor a false safety in lieu of empowerment. But when that outrage has served its purpose it is few who evolve to a place where they not only reach out to those who have shared a similar plight, but also reach back to the “oppressor,” the person or persons who have played that vital role in our becoming.
Our survival, our emergence and our joy are bound inextricably with that of our neighbor’s. Indeed, there are no “others.” In Mary Van Pelt’s “journey through madness” she neither tiptoes around the human fallibility of her family of origin nor does she allow herself to get mired in blame. It’s a fine walk for someone who took on silence as a way of protecting herself and her family (at the risk of self annihilation), to find liberation from that prison without making a career of opposition. Unfortunately, and in the name of advocacy and therapy, there are many who pause over long in that seductive trance. Mary’s goal, however, is clear. Freedom.
And rarely do we realize in the midst of our struggle for liberation that it is the inherent tendency toward transformation and transcendence coded within us that is fueling and guiding our emergence. We speak of reaching into the depths of ourselves for strength, for determination; we cultivate hope from seeming darkness; we pull ourselves up, gasping for breath, grabbing at light. It is a solitary journey—and then, it is not. In Silence I Speak is a story without “bad guys.” It is, necessarily, a story involving people who at times are petty and self serving, but mostly just caught up in the same failing paradigm. There are also brilliant angels in her journey. It is, therefore, a story about all of us. And all the players are necessary; and all the players have the same opportunity to insist upon freedom.
—Stewart S. Warren, 2010
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