WillThink4Wine

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

– George Eliot (1819 - 1880) English novelist

Or as my MotherDear so often said “It is better to appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”. I always thought she was some sort of genius. Perhaps she is. As it turns out, many wise people have said this, in their own way.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

– Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

– Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), (attributed)

One of my nieces has been coming to me for council with some issues she’s been having in her academic life and finances related to college. She’s 19, is bipolar and in her first year of college. She’s been quite aggravated with her parents because they aren’t wealthy like the parents of her friends. She requires student loans. *gasp* Therefore, she has given herself permission to harrangue them about this issue, daily, at great length and quite loudly. Without any success *sigh*, I have been trying to impress upon her the importance of self-control, specifically as it relates to her tongue. She continues to try to win her un-winable arguement by berating them. If there is a teenager (or someone with a Ph.D in Child Development) out there reading this that knows why she thinks this method should be working for her despite all evidence to the contrary, please enlighten me! She’s been at it since before the first semester and it appears that she intends to continue on into and throughout the entire Christmas break.

Honestly, when my sister and I discuss this with our mother you should see our mother’s face. It’s absolute horror! Horror and disbelief! She’s speachless. It is simply unimaginable to my mother for a child to speak to her parents in this way.

I know that I have reached ‘that age’ - the age where I now hear myself saying all those things my parents said that I swore that I would never say.

I just don’t understand what’s happened to this generation. Truly, I do not.

There, I’ve said it.