Silence question

The question of silence, as we talked about in class, was pretty interesting to think about..I never thought of the word silence as being negative but i can definitly see how it can be taken that way...i dont think that silence is always a bad thing but being silenced is definitly something that is not good...By personal experience, i have been brought up under the thought that "talk is cheap...silence is golden"...so if i have nothing to say, i generally do not try and say something that does not pertain to the situation..that does not mean i will not speak what is on my mind...i just try and think before i speak...sometimes i feel that silence is more comforting than anything else..words have a tendency to do certain situations injustice...so why say anything when the silence screams volumes?