Inktober Day 13 prompt- Guarded
I am by nature, extremely talkative. In fact when I find myself in awkward situations, I use speech as a defence mechanism and try to strike up a conversation with those around me in order to ease the tension.
However, I have never quite been cognizant of exactly what it is that I am saying because for all these years, much of my interaction has been with my peers from school. These people know me so well that I do not have to consciously think through anything I say from fear of being politically incorrect or offending them. I did not realise how valuable this comfort zone really is until I was pushed out of it and had to interact with different kinds of people once my twelve years of schooling came to an end.
Almost everyone around me in school was in and around the same wavelength as myself. Naturally, in all my naiveté I presumed it would be this way or perhaps even better when I moved out of school. Much to my surprise though, I have realised that this really is not the case. Besides, since nobody really knows me all that well in these new circles of mine, I really have to watch what I'm saying. I have to guard the content (that usually has a free passage way from my brain to my mouth and into the ears of the poor soul giving me company) because there is a very real possibility of stirring controversy from being misinterpreted or having my intentions misunderstood.
Guarding what I catch myself say really has been quite a trying experience. While in school, I had certain weird catchphrases associated with me and so even when I uttered them in the midst of a serious discussion in class, I was, for the most part forgiven. Recently, however, during the course of a Financial Management course I was attending, I subconsciously yelled out a certain word from among my set of catchphrases. Pardon the cliche, but trust me when I say that if looks could kill, I would have died from the penetrating stares I subsequently received that day. That's when the magnanimity of the situation really hit me.
I've always thought that adults are more reticent and reserved than children and presumed that it was one of the side effects of aging. Now I begin to realise that adults have a greater responsibility for what they say than children do, because in the case of the latter, many a faux pas can be attributed to innocence.
A particularly amusing political faux pas comes to mind, that demonstrates the fatal consequences of not guarding your words. During 2011’s G20 summit at Cannes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama were overheard by the press during the course of a a private conversation about Benjamin Netanyahu, where they can be heard discussing the Israeli Prime Minister with less than usual diplomacy.
However, I have never quite been cognizant of exactly what it is that I am saying because for all these years, much of my interaction has been with my peers from school. These people know me so well that I do not have to consciously think through anything I say from fear of being politically incorrect or offending them. I did not realise how valuable this comfort zone really is until I was pushed out of it and had to interact with different kinds of people once my twelve years of schooling came to an end.
Almost everyone around me in school was in and around the same wavelength as myself. Naturally, in all my naiveté I presumed it would be this way or perhaps even better when I moved out of school. Much to my surprise though, I have realised that this really is not the case. Besides, since nobody really knows me all that well in these new circles of mine, I really have to watch what I'm saying. I have to guard the content (that usually has a free passage way from my brain to my mouth and into the ears of the poor soul giving me company) because there is a very real possibility of stirring controversy from being misinterpreted or having my intentions misunderstood.
Guarding what I catch myself say really has been quite a trying experience. While in school, I had certain weird catchphrases associated with me and so even when I uttered them in the midst of a serious discussion in class, I was, for the most part forgiven. Recently, however, during the course of a Financial Management course I was attending, I subconsciously yelled out a certain word from among my set of catchphrases. Pardon the cliche, but trust me when I say that if looks could kill, I would have died from the penetrating stares I subsequently received that day. That's when the magnanimity of the situation really hit me.
I've always thought that adults are more reticent and reserved than children and presumed that it was one of the side effects of aging. Now I begin to realise that adults have a greater responsibility for what they say than children do, because in the case of the latter, many a faux pas can be attributed to innocence.
A particularly amusing political faux pas comes to mind, that demonstrates the fatal consequences of not guarding your words. During 2011’s G20 summit at Cannes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama were overheard by the press during the course of a a private conversation about Benjamin Netanyahu, where they can be heard discussing the Israeli Prime Minister with less than usual diplomacy.
Sarkozy: I cannot bear Netanyahu, he’s a liar.
Obama: You’re fed up with him? I have to deal with him even more often than you.
Though not reported in the media during the summit, it did subsequently leak and obviously did not help the cause of the leaders' plans to nip Iran's nuclear plans in the bud.
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