Shut your pie hole

In the most inauspicious way to usher in the first of many 2009 posts, I am going to make a sombre confession. As Sun Tzu once said, "“to know thyself and know thy enemy, a hundred battles and a hundred victories...”; 知己知彼，百战百胜. I know myself well enough to believe that if I had in more than one occasion in the past controlled my trap accordingly, I wouldn't have gotten myself into so many quagmires.

Your mouth got GOLD ar??

It used to be uttered by my parents to me or my siblings when commenting on our quiet demeanor whenever there were guests at home. I guess it's just that I never was the type to talk much back then. This is to the extent that it generated all sorts of misconceptions. The main one being gossips behind our backs pertaining to rudeness as I couldn't be bothered with common courtesy. The way I saw it, I figured that if I don't talk, I probably wouldn't offend anyone. Besides, the guests back then were mostly friends of our parents. Strangers, practically. Didn't they always tell us not to talk to strangers? 

Nontheless, this posed a long-lasting predicament until slowly but surely, I gained the confidence to talk to guests for the sake of being polite. Then, you suddenly realize that it's not as tough as it may seem. Soon enough, talking to people whom are total strangers doesn't feel any more of a hassle than going about your daily chores.

Shut your trap.

Then there are times where words are uttered without due consideration, implicating repercussions on the speaker. Many factors may influence this humanly phenomenon, also known as the "words-escaping-mouth-without-being-processed-by-brain" occurrence. Once something is said, it isn't easy to retract what's already escaped your mouth without leaving any residues.  The only category of people who can escape unpunished from this would be the innocent-minded saplings of society. 

It means that we should THINK before we decide to hurl derogatory and hurtful insults. This applies even when we're overwhelmed with extreme emotions. As embarrassing as this may sound, anger- one of the pitfalls in my world with the highest damage potential- has caused yours truly to say things that he would sorely regret thereafter. As such, means are being investigated to avoid or at least reduce the frequency of this slip of the tongue. Whether or not they will bear fruit remains to be seen.

一言既出，驷马难追 (Translation: Once something is said, even a four-horsed chariot cannot chase it down and bring it back... Taking into consideration that the bullet train hasn't been invented when this adage was coined)

A gentleman's word. 

Once a promise is made, it isn't a good idea to go back on one's word. So if a promise can't be kept, the best idea would be to dispose of it into the recycle bin or a temporary folder and not be a mule by trapping yourself in the fire pit. Believe me, impressing someone with big talk and empty promises is the worst kind of get-backer that will hurt your ass so bad.. you wouldn't be able to sit comfortably for ages.

So yeah, mastering the art of control over "the talk" will undoubtedly give you a better shot at the jolly and scandal-free walk through life that everyone covets.