Silence!

One time, during the metro strike in October in Paris, Janna and I decided to try the metro anyway because of a ward Halloween party we were excited about. The number of trains had increased significantly but the stops and train were still congested because of the Rugby World Cup. I believe Scotland was playing that night, and while we walked during our transfer, there were a ton of Scots who kept shouting out the first line of their annoying pop theme song over and over again. I finally yelled "SHUT UP!" (once I established that I was far enough away for no one to realize it was me.) A stunned silence settled over the crowd. First of all, I shouted it out in English, and second of all, the Scots probably thought that any English-speaker would be there for the cup and would therefore support the singing. They quickly recovered, however, and continued on with the first line of the internationally popular song.

I surprised myself that night. Brought silence to dozens through a voice that many people hardly ever hear. Sweet! Maybe I needed it.