Reaction to "Why Don't We Complain?" by William F. Buckley, Jr.

How many times do you think that you feel you should say something about something but you don't speak up, because there is a feeling inside you that don't let you talk. "Why don't we complain?" by William F. Burckley, Jr. Is and illustration and example essay that shows the different reasons why we, the people, do not complain. The first example that he gives us is the heat that is inside of a train where he is at and outside is very very very cold. He starts his complain to the conductor of the train but as soon as he starts talking the person that was near him looks at him as if he was committing a crime. Of course after this incident he stops and goes back to his seat and stays quiet.

I think that here in Miami there have been a lot of times that I have felt the same way; there are some places that put the air conditioner very cold, and outside is around 90 degrees. Nobody complains and if somebody does the rest of the people will turn to him and will make him feel really bad. Burckley says that people do not speak up because "... we are afraid that our cause is in just, or that is ambiguous, or maybe it is too trivial to justify the horrors of a confrontation with authority ..." and I think he is completely right, a lot of times I don't think that I should say something because I assume that it is not important and nobody will care about.

Another example that Burckley gives on the essay " Why don't we complain?" is the one where he is on a "Home Depot" store type, and he has being standing on a line just to get one screwdriver and there are two employees right in front of it talking. So he finally decided to speak up and tells them if they can be nice and give him a screwdriver; the funny part is that the employee turns around and says to him “I am not supposed to move. I have just had a heart attack.” So everybody turn around and he felt horrible. So my question in this case is: So, when is it right to speak up and when we should be quite?

Well I guess that we should be quite because by transforming our self’s in people without emotions or feelings and just act like robots, have a lot of apathy, and just don't care, will give us the certainty that nobody will judge us. Or just keep writing on the complain or suggestion cards everywhere we go.