8/10/2019 Case for Introverts

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Case for Introverts

Let me clarify at the very outset that making this talk in the assembly today is not my own

initiative. It's a special treatment, an experiment, which I have been asked to go through to

deal with the disease called introverted personality.

There is an interesting background to this experiment. During the last PTM most of the

teachers told my parents that "He is a good boy but speaks less". Worried parents met the

housemaster who suggested that I must give a talk in the assembly. He said that this is the

perfect treatment for this disease. I am not sure about the impact of this solution but this

definitely gave me a chance to think about the subject.

Friends, Is it really so shameful to be an introvert, to speak softly and sensibly, to be modest,

to speak less? Although being social and outgoing is at times prized and even celebrated in

today's society and culture, but this does not mean that introverted personality creates any

hindrance to success. Introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world. You

take the example of some of the most transformative leaders in our history like Mahatma

Gandhi, Einstein, Steve Jobs or even the Himalayan sages, a simple study of their biographies

reveals one fact for the sure that all of them were highly talented and modest personalities.

The silence is very assertive and it helps to understand the art and science of nature. Sir Isaac

Newton and Gautam Buddha got the very best of it.

In my opinion, to understand a person or a subject, its context and the reference is of utmost

importance. In physics we have been taught about light and image, and got to know how we

see things. If I see in reference to this newly acquired knowledge, this blue curtain of the

MPH is all colours but blue. It has taken and absorbed all colours but rejected and reflected

the blue. There is no blue colour in this curtain but this what we see, this is what we accept

and even tell others. This dichotomy of our scientific knowledge and visual perception compel

us to think and even stops us from speaking at times.

One of the common perception is that one who speaks less is afraid and even timid. I have a

totally different point of view. In my opinion people are more afraid from those who speak

less. Notice a dead body and you get afraid, even fully knowing the fact that its dead, can't

even move, but we get afraid. Leave apart what will happen if it starts speaking.

8/10/2019 Case for Introverts

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Friends, Our national emblem consist of four lions. Now if you look from the front you can

only notice one full and two half lions. The poor fourth one is not even visible. But he is also a

lion, lion of the same size, lion of the same importance whether you notice it or not. What is

important is where you are looking at it from. If we change our direction and place of vision

the fourth lion becomes visible and the first one becomes invisible. What I am trying to

convey is that it's better to analyze some ones personality in the right reference and context.

If someone is good, it doesn't mean that others are bad. Being good or bad is relative. If a

student performs well in one particular activity it doesn't make other students incapable.

Others might have their own field of interest, their own activity, their own criterion, their

own style. We all must respect and honour the relativity that exist between this merit and

demerit.

Unfortunately there is a serious and visible bias in favor of the extroverts. It seems as if our

most important institutions, our schools, our workplaces are working in support of the

extroverts with some pre conceived notions. The Importance of the human race lies in the

very difference in the characteristics of its individuals. We shall not label one as good and

another as bad. Research has shown that it takes courage to be modest and speak softly. It's

not a lack of confidence, it's not the weakness of language or the fear of rejection of our

ideas. It's not even shyness. Simply, the stimulus for extroverts and introverts are different.

As for as the creativity and leadership is concerned you will find that extroverts at times are

not rightly placed. Out of the excitement to put forth their own point of view they not onlyend up disrespecting good ideas of their teammates but even take the support of rhetoric to

stamp their decision on others.

I don’t think that such a trait of introversion which gives an edge to leadership and creativity,

needs to be treated. Rather it is required to be understood.

I am ending my talk with the expectation that the experiment through which I have

undergone will be considered successful and the inferences so drawn will also benefit other

students by helping them understand the language of silence. In the end, there is no dearth

of these fourth lion in our school too. We need to revisit our policies and attitude towardsthem.

Atharva Shukla