THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

People often ask me, “Why do you take your early morning walks all by yourself?” and I reply, “Because that is my thinking time.” That sounds really erudite until I tell them, “I was just thinking that, ‘If fish would keep their mouths shut, we’d all be vegetarians.’” Sorry! but that’s how my mind works. Oh, the words that go thorough my mind that I never say.  How often has someone said to me, “That goes without saying,” and I have been tempted to reply, “Then please don’t!”

I know a woman who talks because she enjoys the sound of her own voice. Unfortunately, her tongue moves faster than the mass of nerve tissue in her cranium can catch up. She is quite a talker.  On the other hand, I have never heard someone say, “Your dog is a good dog, because he barks a lot.”

A conversation usually involves  speakers and  listeners, but sometimes it’s just better not to talk. That way people might take you for a deep thinker. Or, they might think you are a half-wit, but perhaps it better to be thought of as stupid, rather than enter the conversation, and prove them right.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good conversation. But a good conversation involves two people who have some knowledge about what they are talking about,  and  who have something to say that does not involve a hashtag.

There are all kinds of ways that people speak. Some people mumble. When that happens, the listener should nod sagely and say, “You could say that again!” And, some people shout. A shouter never says, “Can you hear me now?” because you can hear him before you enter the room, while you are in the room, and long after you’ve left the room. It’s lots of fun to see a mumbler and a shouter talking with one another. The shouter has to close in and the mumbler has to back off.

Recently, I was on the moving sidewalk in an airport. A fellow walked down the walkway waving his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs. Every passenger stopped to look at him. Never could figure out if he was on a cell phone or a schizophrenic off his meds.

But back to the thinking part of this tale.  When I think, I often think out loud. In other words, I talk to myself. It’s called a monologue, but in my case there are no listeners. I can think aloud to myself, and I can make myself laugh. That’s when I write it down. Hamlet’s soliloquy is a conversation with himself, but since it is in a play, the audience eves drops on the poor, tormented fellow.

I recommend that everyone should take time off to pause and contemplate before going out to
express oneself.  However, if you don’t think you have the inclination or time to take my advice remember that, “One way to prevent a conversation from being boring is to say the wrong thing.” (Frank Sheed).

Esther Blumenfeld “Don’t speak unless you can improve on the silence” (Spanish proverb)