“…when we ‘stomp the pedal to the metal’ in exclaiming our viewpoints, criticisms, arguments or general opinions – we muddy the sound, we blur the intended message. We send our audience careening forward with no clear direction, impossible to steer. Or we slam them to a halt.” 

Dear Neighbor, 

When you sit in front of a piano, your eyes are drawn not only to the beautiful array of ebony and ivory keys but also to the brass pedals at your feet. These pedals play a crucial role in shaping the sound of the piano.  

As a child and a beginner on the piano, my favorite was the sustain pedal.  I just loved to stomp my little foot down on the sustain pedal, pound the keys with as much volume as my small hands could muster, and hear the notes roll and crash on top of and into one another. Cacophonous, yes. A refined sound, no!

This piano pedal allows notes to echo continuously, even after your hands leave the keys. Using this pedal judiciously is essential to achieve a seamless transition through the music. Excessive stomping on the sustain pedal muddies the sound terribly and blurs the intended music.

Similarly, when we are beginners behind the wheel of a car, learning to drive, our first tendency is to put too much pressure on the accelerator or brake pedals. As novice automobile operators, we don’t know any better until we either speed or jolt down the road a few times! Stomping on the accelerator sent us flying, and in reaction, we stomped on the brake, only to catapult us and our poor driver education teacher forward to a screaming halt. We learn to use the pedals judiciously.  

I admit, when driving, I am guilty of impatience with someone not moving quickly enough at the green light, or going too slowly ahead of me on the road. I hear myself saying, “Put the pedal to the metal!” But do we really want that person to stomp the pedal and jet uncontrollably into traffic?  No, we do not.  We want the ‘raw egg’ approach.

As a beginner driver, I was taught to pretend there was a raw egg under my foot…and that I should try not to break the egg when I pressed either the accelerator or the brake.  Stomping the accelerator sends us off at a frightening speed, and stomping the brake pedal screeches us to a jolting halt. Neither is the ride we desire! Envisioning that I might break a raw egg under my foot allowed me to learn to gently accelerate and brake. Genius.  

Likewise, when we ‘stomp the pedal to the metal’ in exclaiming our viewpoints, criticisms, arguments or general opinions – we muddy the sound, we blur the intended message. We send our audience careening forward with no clear direction, impossible to steer. Or we slam them to a halt.  In any case, we lose the quality of our expression, we overlap our message until it can’t be heard clearly, like a small child pounding on piano keys, foot firmly planted on the sustain pedal.  In many cases, we lose our dignity and behave as if we are beginners, novices at shaping sound and expression – novices at the wheel.  

Let’s pretend there is that raw egg about to break under our voice as we go forward this election season. Let’s let each of our voices resonate freely, by judiciously sustaining and releasing, giving our messages full-bodied sound and seamless transitions…letting our friends hear clearly.  Gently accelerating and braking our voices, our messages on all sides will be clear and unmuddied by stomping the pedal. Cacophonous, no. A refined sound, yes…yes, please.

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.

Sue McHugh