It's Called Knowing When To Shut Up

One of the first things I had to learn when I moved to America was how to speak up.  I always had to make sure to talk out loud, or jump into a conversation, before getting lost in a stream of chatter. You see, Americans are in love with the fact that they can express themselves freely and talking seems to be the number one form of doing so. Just about anyone with an opinion, comment, or complaint can say anything nice or, for the matter, say anything except something nice.

Now, there isn’t anything wrong with that. I find that it could be quite refreshing, especially coming from a culture where being polite and proper is very important. In my country, a lot of premium is given to social etiquette and recommended decorum. Also, nothing wrong with that since, after all, we do it to show respect by being considerate to and of others. After all, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Right?

Hmmm…maybe I am not so right about that. Just from looking at the headlines the past few weeks, it seems to indicate that a lot of people don’t care about treating others the way they wanted to be treated. I mean, from Serena’s massive U.S. Open meltdown, Kanye’s nth MTV diva tantrum, up to Joe Wilson temporarily suffering from tourette syndrome, don’t you think we ought to stop for a second and figure out what the heck is going on? Why do people have to be so rude!?
 

Has America become a society that tolerates people behaving like, as even Obama so rightly describes, a jackass? There is a thin line between being opinionated and just being plain foolish. I think the issue here is that there is a false sense of entitlement that makes most of us forget what is right. To borrow Judith Timson’s words: “We obviously feel damn entitled to express our point of view whenever and however we feel like it.  So much for public decorum.”

I think what we all need is to take a break from this “all about me” mentality and start examining how we behave towards each other. Are these outbursts and meltdowns the kind of example we want our kids to follow? Truly, America is in need of a refresher course in manners and etiquette.  Or better yet as a practical guideline before saying anything, think twice before committing verbal diarrhea. There is value in knowing when to shut up.