Teaching in Silence — the Planet Walker

[Anna Billings]

Here's a fascinating story about the difference one person can make in the world. In what began as a protest to a large oil spill in the San Francisco Bay (1971), John Francis, the Planet Walker, stopped using motorized vehcles for 22 years. Instead, he walked everywhere, including a seven year trek across the United States. In addition, he decided to stop talking (in order to stop arguing and to listen more). He did that for 17 years and during his silence, attended universities and earned an undergraduate degree and masters degree in science and environmental studies and a PhD in land resources.

Even more amazing — he taught classes and led discussions all without talking. Here's a six minute video on his story featured on a local news channel. He also has a Ted talk that I'll post later:

[Anna Billings]

I attended the Planet Walker's one man performance here in California this weekend. He described his experiences in story-telling format and played banjo (which he taught himself) between sets. 22 years of no riding in motorized vehicles and 17 years of not talking. Besides walking across the country, earning a bachelor's degree, masters, and PhD from three universities during that time, he also became a United Nations Ambassador and was asked to write environmental regulations to prevent oil spills.

Here are some gems I gathered from the evening (paraphrased):

"We are the environment. How we treat one another and ourselves affects the environment."

"One person CAN make a difference."

"We need to continually revisit our decisions and the direction we're headed to see if it's still appropriate - otherwise we run the risk of creating our own prisons."

That last part refers to his decision to not use motorized vehicles. It was appropriate for him for the 22 years he did without that and for 17 years of not talking. Then it became right to speak again and then to ride in cars and airplanes again (which he now does).

You can also read about his experiences in his book which is quite fascinating: The Planet Walker.

I find it interesting that he stopped talking as he got tired of hearing himself argue with people over his decision to not use motorized vehicles. He began as a one day commitment, then found that his listening opened up so profoundly that he committed to a whole year. And then another year and so on.

Also intriguing to think of him teaching without speaking.

Hope you get a chance to watch the video. I'd love to hear your impressions.

[Connie Weber]

Hi Anna,
Thanks for sharing this very interesting story. Can you imagine not speaking for 17 years? What this man must have learned. I haven't watched the video yet, but I've enjoyed our personal conversations about his story.
Hey, did you see Sarah's forum about the child who's selectively mute? I wonder how these two tales might be interwoven. I'm guessing on the child's part it is considerably less under her control, that is, whether she's able to speak or not. But who knows? At her tender age, she may just feel, "Oh, this is a context in which I don't speak," for whatever reason. You may have some ideas to add to that discussion.
Anyway, thanks! I love the way you keep us attuned to stories of human growth and development, ones that at first glance seem outside of ordinary thinking about education... and then, bingo--all sorts of relevancies appear!
BTW and on another note: there are meetings at school in which I am very deliberately and selectively mute!