Silence

It is good to know when to be silent.

Kondraty Ryleyev was sentenced to be hanged for his part in an failed uprising against the Russian czar Nicholas I in December 1825, but the rope broke. Ryleyev fell to the ground and then got up. An accident of this sort most often ended in a pardon, so a messenger was sent to the czar to know his pleasure. Nicholas asked, "What did he say?"

"Sire, he said that in Russia they do not even know how to make a proper rope."

"Let the contrary be proved," he replied.

One life skill is how to avoid things that just drain our time and energy. One man tried to pull Jesus into a dispute with a brother over their father’s estate. Jesus had better things to do. Argue with the priests during His trial? No. He said His piece and was done.

I have two, back to back wisdom verses from the Bible about how saying nothing can free us up to do better things:

“He who has a poor opinion (despises, scorns-NAS95) of his neighbor has no sense, but a wise man keeps quiet.” Proverbs 11:12 (BBE).

Neighbors can quarrel, but this says the one who starts the quarrel is most often the fool. It is better to make every effort to get along with those close enough to do us harm. This may mean keeping silent about minor irritants and insults.

Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

The next verse says this:

“He who goes about talking of others makes secrets public, but the true-hearted man keeps things covered.” Proverbs 11:13 (BBE).

Using gossip to make me look better says more about me than the one I talk about. But if I know when and how to keep a secret, the secret stays hidden while my ethics are plain.

Or, if I blurt out something best dealt with in private, or shouldn’t have been said at all, I squander the time and patience of all concerned. A lot of effort may be needed to undo the damage and this assumes that saying “Oops, I’m sorry” will even work this time.

I don’t have to retract what I didn’t say.

Amended 12Mar2018

Final draft submitted 13Mar2018