Audio (MP3): 20171004 - My gear in mouth

There’s this saying, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

Sources have various versions, from Mark Twain to Abe Lincoln to that pesky critter King James.

Anyways, who said it first and how they said it is irrelevant. It’s good. Me not chiming in with my ignorance makes the world a better place. There’s too much noise and bullshit out there already.

So this is easy for me to remember because I come out looking like a winner when I stay silent. Instead of talking and looking like a boob.

However, there are two more related truths that are a smidge trickier for me.

See, along the same line as King Twain Lincoln it’s just as good for me to not feed the trolls. Keep quiet when someone else is raging in my direction. Not throw counter punches in fights I cannot win.^[1] It’s better for everybody involved if I just let the troll run out of gas or just move along.

Ya, sometimes I follow them down the rabbit hole because my emotions take over and I think they’re full of shit. I’ll try to force them to see how they’re wrong and then get them to apologize. Or I’ll try to force them to listen to reason so they won’t be upset or whatever.

None of that’s ever gonna happen.

But what will happen when I don’t retaliate is that said trolls can sit in their own shit. Take their medal home and wear it with pride. Revel in the prestige of being an asshole. They’ll most likely know it, too. Unless they’re a real boob. Just don’t count on the troll backing down. Because chances are good they won’t.

Anyways, when I’m up in arms the last thing I wanna do is listen to somebody else tell me that I’m doing it wrong. If I’m doing it “right” I’ll let other people be wrong as well. Including the trolls. I don’t need to engage in every atrocity.

And then there’s the times when I’m the troll. I open my mouth when I shouldn’t. That’s not good.

I’m never mean-spirited on purpose but people who don’t know me don’t know that. I need to exercise caution more often than not. I won’t go wrong with err’ing on the side of hesitation.

Really, at the end of the day me not putting my gear in mouth is the generally right thing to do.

When in doubt consult a spiritual advisor.

PS– I’m not preaching to you. I’m preaching to me. Because I’m really not that cool.

PS2– When recording the audio I transposed gear and mouth. So I changed it every where.

PS3- Ya, I said tomorrow’s date in the audio. Because today really should be Thursday.

PS4- And also in the audio version beloved listeners can hear me snap my fingers at the cats. Because I’m good like that.

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1. Like all things the only black and white rules are the ones that are gray. ↑