KNOWING WHEN TO SHUT UP

Knowing when to open your mouth and when to keep it shut is valuable wisdom. There is nothing wrong in speaking our hearts out, but we also need to recognise the thin line, crossing which irritates others. 

When someone's (almost) asleep
You're at that point when you are just done with the first semester final exam and you have to start prepping for the next exam. Sweet heavens! It's on the next day. You're straight off to your room to nap but your friend has decided to check the answers. You are half-sleeping with the phone on one ear and periodically saying their answers were correct. 

Friends forever doesn't really mean being sleepless zombies together.

Pause, please
The Oscars had happened and you might be making a list of movies you've missed out on watching. Imagine watching a movie with a friend. All he does is keep pausing the movies because he doesn't understand the storyline. To make matters worse, he feels the need to discuss everything happening in the movie. "Is he the same guy in the beginning? Do you think the villain is the girl shown in the restaurant?"

You might want to tell them "Look, if you're confused about something happening on the screen, I am watching the same screen. Accept what is happening and shut up."

Being hopelessly romantic:
Sometimes life gives us the grand responsibility of being someone else's confidant (oh joy!). However, when we have to endure repeated renditions of how the person got rejected on Valentine's day because he thought a billboard proposal would be a good idea, we simply feel like taping our ears shut.

Redundant conversation with a stranger on journey
Making friends during journeys is fun. Often, we strike up conversations with strangers to realise the striking similarities we have. But that doesn't mean life is the movie Highway.

A lot of people will draw the line that says they aren't willing to talk. Don't go on talking about their desher bari, its chairman and fall in farming production.

Words have made gaining perspectives and knowing the world plausible. But we should know the limit of our spoken words in the parameter of when, how and why. Taming our tongue is important, so is keeping our mouth shut at the right time.

Myat Moe is an occasional philosopher whose favorite pastime is confusing people with her nationality. Reach her @[email protected]