Teachers are very good at getting across the point that all voices matter, and therefore, each of us has a voice that does matter. While this does sound real good and healthy, the reality of whether our voices matter would appear to be subject to some serious debate, because whenever there are injustices that are well known to be part and parcel of this society, and having been occurring for decades but haven’t been successfully ameliorated or resolved, this would indicate that voices or not, those that have authority and power, seem to have the only voice that matters.
To believe somehow that power actually listens to the powerless is fundamentally askew. Rather, while there are a myriad of ways to attempt to get the attention of those in power, it more often comes forth from those who are able to bend the ear of somebody in power, which is indicative that they themselves have a degree of power. This means that as much as we might voice our disdain about this or that, or voice our concerns about important items of the day, that those in power often don’t pay attention to it, because to them, they don’t hear it;
Indeed, it doesn’t seem to matter how many people support a certain issue, and how great those numbers are, if the powers that be, don’t feel that they need to lend an ear to hear what the people are saying, because if those powers believe that what is occurring ultimately isn’t going to affect them or their business, then they have the right mind to ignore such, which they often do.
Power has a strong tendency to concede nothing, and will concede only when they believe they have no good choice but to do so, or occasionally, when they have a crisis of ethical conscience -- for it is possible for people that have power, to suddenly wake up and see the injustice of a situation, and thereby to do something constructive about it, but in absence of this, only unrelenting pressure, unrelenting protest, and unrelenting voices, will possibly serve to press those in power, to consider their alternatives.
Our voices should matter, but as in anything, how much a given voice matters has a lot to do with whether or not that voice can gain traction with others that favor that message and have the abiding desire to press onward with their collective voice in order to effect change. The bottom line is that change is not easy to see implemented because those in power aren’t interested in change, because they already have what they want, and therefore want to keep it just the way that it is.
Nevertheless, those that believe in what they believe, are entitled to air their voice, and in doing so, they are trying to make this democracy a better place for their valued agitation, because this is a nation of, by and for the people, and the people have been blessed with a voice that should be used so as to let be known what it is that they have to say.