to_define_is_to_limit

The world he came from was the world of the people who always talked and never listened. I came from the world where people always seemed to listen and never really talked.
- Cities full of empty people, said he.
- People from your world, they have courage. I admire them, for they always say what they think.
- But because they speak too much, you never know when they say something important.
- Unlike people from my world, who seem to always wait for the perfect moment to say some unimportant stuff about life, brain-washing or their neighbor who has sex every morning at 6 …
- And what do they do while they wait?
- Watch TV, or look at the sky, or read books. In my city there rarely are people to walk on the streets, laugh, and have fun. Sometimes it’s so silent, I’m even afraid. Their silence makes me feel alone, because I always feel like I’m obliged to say something, when I don’t feel like talking at all.
- And I’m obliged to always listen, whatever I’m feeling.
- Teach me how to talk and I’ll teach you how to listen.
- I think I know how to listen.
- I have the vague impression that you never really listen. You don’t hear what others say, you just repeat in mind what you want to say until it’s your turn to speak.
- Rude said.
See that building over there, it’s the Museum of Great Talkers. It has pictures, clothes and articles of the people who were known for their words. Each one of them had the particular word describing them. Orwell’s word, for example, is OPPOSITION.I like Orwell because he knows our words are our weapons. All the great talkers know that.
- Do you plan to become a great talker?
- Maybe...
- What good is it to speak so much if at the end of the day you still feel like you didn't say what you wanted?
- I don’t know, but I do it, we all do it there. We have a number of words per day, from 2000 to 5000 that we need to say to somebody. It’s like a bank account of words. Whatever you didn't say for today, you left for tomorrow.
- And what about the great talkers, how do they become famous?
- Usually they listen. And then, some time when they’re alone, or riding the car, or washing the dishes, the words they never say come to their minds like hurricanes. These storms, brainstorms, they don’t last long, but they last enough to make them write exactly what everybody wants to say and nobody knows how.

And that was when I decided I want to be a Great Talker. How did I end up here? I didn't know, but fatality was my ultimate excuse.