I would like to thank my teacher Jana Draka, her teacher Blanche Hartman, and all the ancestors in my lineage.
I’m very tempted to leave the rest of this talk silent, similar to the music composition 4 minutes and 33 seconds by Jon Cage, he emphasizes the silence as ail you hear in the pauses: a very special thought that I can only describe as mindful, but won't go deeper because I don't want to intrude upon it with my Zen ideas.
I've found silence to be both empowering and useful. Recently I encountered a situation involving the topic of the difference between "Zen counseling" and regular counseling. I found it empowering to sit in thoughtful silence before answering. Although I did have the immediate response of, "What do you think?" 
Waiting made me feel I was listening to and considering the questioner and providing a thoughtful response, making me feel more empowered in my response of, "I don't know but it seems to me that zen counseling involves the lessons of the Buddha including the reflection on emptiness meditation brings." It seemed to me that it was important to stress not having a closed answer so they would keep exploring. 
In the same pause I found the usefulness of the topic: I was able to reflect on some of the meanings of zen to me and how they related to the question and questioner.
Anyhow, the silence served to give the questioner a sense of consideration of the importance of their question as well as giving me a chance to think and flesh out my response, 
Enjoy the silence.