Quiet Types

“ATPTA Sari’s teacher told me I should get her therapy because she’s so quiet in class. ‘Sari doesn’t participate.’ ‘Sari doesn’t raise her hand.’ ‘Sari doesn’t want to have a major role in the play.’ ‘Sari avoids group activities, she just has a couple of friends she likes to spend time with.’ I’m also quiet. So’s my husband. Is there something wrong with that?”

Actually, a good percentage of the population is “quiet.” We may work with quiet people, daven with them, or live across the road from them. We might think they’re snobs who don’t like us. Or we might think they’re strange or boring. Because they may say little, we really have no idea what they think about us. We decide what they’re all about. Often, of course, our assumptions are way off.

We have less trouble with the extroverts and happy chatterboxes among us. They’re more likely to reveal their inner thoughts, leaving less up to our imagination. They tell us who they are by what they say and do. At school, they call out in class or eagerly raise their hands. They jump with joy when good news is announced. They shout down the hall to get their friend’s attention.

The quiet ones silently observe. They speak when they must and when they’re with loved ones. Social interaction has little or no appeal to many of the quiet types; they’re often happiest when on their own or with family.