Lessons in Survival Part 1: Keeping your mouth shut

As I've grown older I've realized that probably one of the most important things that you must do as someone who's looking to survive( I wouldn't use the word succeed because it's all relative if you know what I mean. One man's win is another man's loss and it wouldn't be totally incorrect to say that in the end when a tending to infinity amount of time or its philosophical equivalent has passed, there are no winners or losers, only survivors ) is to keep your mouth shut. Obviously the unwanted side-effect of that action is the typically maniacal cyber logorrhoea that you see on display here. But believe me, it's a small price to pay. The effects of not keeping your mouth shut have been made lucid rather painfully to those who have chosen to learn their lessons the harder way.

But wait a minute, you can't keep your mouth shut all the time can you? Of course not. That'd be too much to ask of a human who's over-accustomed to a hyper-vocal social stereotype. It's like they say: impossible. But what is "possible" is to keep selectively shut. What's that now? We've heard of selectively permeable, but what's this thing called keeping selectively shut? Well, it is as you might have guessed, keeping shut when you ought to and not keeping shut at other times if you so please. The natural follow-up query is most likely to be: How do I know when to do what? Well, the answer to that question, I'm afraid is not available tailor-made. It's something you've got to figure out yourself. Like most other things in life.

They say "Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he'd just keep his mouth shut." How wise do we think we are? Extrapolating these behavioral ideals in other creatures to human interactions? Aesop's Fables. Panchatantra. Wacky quotes like the one above... Well so what if it worked for some hapless moron of an animal? Why should it work for us humans? I really don't know. That's something you've got to figure out for yourself. Ah yes. Again.

There will be moments when you will be tempted. To speak. To let the words flow. It's the lure of the devil. Mephistopheles himself calls out to you: "Say it. Imagine how great it'll sound." It's up to you to decide against doing that. It's difficult to say no. But it's the only viable option. There's no telling how seriously fucked up your life can get if you say something you're not supposed to.