Think, then speak...

I generally think people should talk less. I can be quite a talker, to be sure, but I think pretty darned hard before I say something, and with good reason. In the words of Samuel Johnson, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.”

Seriously amigos, more people need to take that sage advice to heart. I'm not referring to my friends or anything, but to the general public.

Let me tell you a little something that happened to me that will illustrate my point. I was at the grocery store. This is a small co-op in my neighborhood, Outpost Natural Foods, and I shop there regularly. Now, I'm a very polite person when I'm out amongst the general public, and especially there because it's a very small store. I don't like to cause trouble or get into other people's biz or whatnot. I just do my thing and try to leave as small a footprint as possible.

So I had my basket in one arm and was near the produce to get some avocadoes. There was a woman standing near them, and her husband or boyfriend was next to her, bending down to get whatever was on the bottom. She was waiting for him. So I said to her quietly and politely 'Excuse me' and reached a bit in front of her to grab an avocado. She politely moved for me.

End of story, right? Well, no.

As I'm placing the avocado in my basket the man she was with stands up and says, in a voice just dripping venom and sarcasm (think of the comic store guy from the Simpsons):

"The words are 'excuse me'."

It took a minute to register that he was actually talking to me. When it did, I replied "I said 'excuse me.'" Then his wife told him "She said 'excuse me.'"

So then HE says, "Well I didn't hear you." To which I answered "I wasn't talking to you."

So I did a little more produce picking, and got to thinking about what he said. I couldn't believe the nerve it took for that man to talk to me like that, and it's especially hurtful to me, because I'm a person who regularly says 'excuse me' when the situation calls for it, it's just how I was raised, and I try so hard to be polite.

So before leaving that aisle I said to him "You know, I really think you need to mind your own business." And you know folks, I believe I was justified in saying that. What was his response?

"I just think people need to be more polite."

I simply responded "I am polite" and walked away.

But then I started thinking, where does this guy get off being the polite police? Seriously. I'd love to know where he gets the balls big enough to think that he can dictate to complete strangers appropriate public behavior.

So, yeah, people need to shut the hell up MUCH more than they do presently. Or in the words of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, "Know your role, and shut your mouth."

Of course he also said "If ya smell what the Rock is cookin'" and did lots of talking about layin' the smack down on people's asses...