Of voice and silence

How?
What's the way I should go?
When I listen to conversations,
when I see manhood displayed
on everyone's behaviour,
what should I do?

I won't fight, even though anger fills my head.
I won't perform violence,
because that's what I'm pronouncing my self against.

But sometimes it seems
that is not worth it,
that they wouldn't listen
that they wouldn't care,
and that they would never renounce
to a wide variety of privileges
in the name of ethic, justice and love.

Then, a remorse feeling overcomes.
What if a woman can be saved
from being abused, violented, hurt,
raped, killed,
by calling these men out?
What if any other person
could be treated as less than human,
could be forced to get into manhood itself
and to perform the same behaviour,
if I remain silent?

I need to learn "to pick up my fights"
as you've said,
to sow the seed in their minds
in a subtle way
so they don't shut me off
from the get-go,
and so they see what it's really about.

It's a chance I have as a man
to be listened by other men
not to be judged from the begining
upon my gender..
It's tiring to even think
about trying to change them all;
but, if I can rescue one
out of a hundred,
that would be something.

"Which of our silences is to blame for the death of a person?
Which silence in us has hanged innocents?
[...]
Which learned silence keeps us alive?
Which convenient silence turn us to be prudent?
Which murderer silence feeds our bellies?
How many times at day we deserve to die?"

Silvio Rodríguez