A Quaker Service

My cousin went to a Quaker high school, so when I went to her graduation, I had the opportunity to attend a Quaker service.  

At a Quaker service, everyone is silent until they have something meaningful to say.  Then, they say it.  Since it was the service before graduation, a fair amount of parents spoke, including one person who kicked off the service by telling a potty training story about his son (I think there was a moral to the story, too...).  His son took it well.

There aren't a lot of spaces for silent introspection.  We often are in social situations where a few moments of silence creates palpable awkwardness.  Even when we're alone, we are often doing something -- watching videos, reading books, sending emails, or even just listening to music.  The service I went to provided such a space.  It was interesting to be quietly introspective as part of a community of people.

My style is to be introspective in front of a computer so that I can create verbose artifacts, but I can appreciate the Quaker way as well.