It’s happening again.

I am sitting in a room, listening to a talker. Lots of words are coming out of her mouth, but much of it has little substance.

I sit uneasily, cringing as I see that she has lost her audience and is completely unaware of it.

I commend her for her valiant attempt to try to connect to the audience. She is using buzzwords that sound good but have little depth of meaning. She is working hard to get us excited about her message, but her body language shows us that she is bored. She is trying to drill her message into us by repeating the same thought in many different ways, but she doesn’t realize that we already got the message ten minutes ago.

Why do so many of us love to talk?

I don’t know the answer. I am just a talker that is trying to reform as I have said enough meaningless words to last a lifetime. But reform is hard. Society rewards those who can talk. Those who can talk, will typically rise. Those who listen seem to keep on listening.

We grow up watching our heroes talk. Politicians, athletes, movie stars, singers, society movers and shakers.

We tell our children not to be shy while failing to realize that they are just listening to the world we fail to hear.

We talk because we can’t stand the sound of silence. Silence makes us feel too vulnerable… too present…too quiet.

Talk is cheap. We can say anything as passionately and honestly as we want, but others will judge us by our actions and behaviors, not our words.

I can say that I am a present father, but then I shouldn’t check my emails while my child is talking to me.

I can say that I am a busy with work, but then I shouldn’t waste time surfing Facebook.

I can say that I am trying to change for the better, but then I should show some proof of a better me.

At the root of it, our actions and behaviors define us. Not our words.

Less talk, more action.