As I sat through an intolerably long meeting, I listened to a group of community leaders talk about candidates to fill a vacant position.

The leader, a particularly gregarious and outgoing chap, expressed his concerns about a proposed candidate knowing he was rather quiet and reserved.

As the leader proceeded around the table, he asked my opinion. He should have known better.

“I’m sick of the extroverts running things,” I said.

The leader, who is also a longtime friend, laughed out loud. He knew I was much more like the candidate in question than the rest of the extroverts around the table.

Extroverts stand at podiums and pulpits around the world encouraging others to speak up, to overcome their quiet reserved nature, as if introversion was a character flaw or weakness.

To my fellow introverts, I say, there’s nothing wrong with you. You don’t have to endlessly and loudly verbalize your opinion to make it valid.

Sometimes, the quietest person in the room has the most meaningful thing to say. They’re just waiting for the extroverts to be quiet enough to listen and to get over themselves enough to ask.

Introversion is not sin.

And, BTW, it takes a damned good meeting to be better than no meeting at all.