To Answer Back or Not to Answer Back

Sometimes, I feel that it’s best if we just keep quiet instead of making a comment no matter how much we wanted to. For if we make a comment or two, it will probably land us on hot water or worse, we’ll probably be penalised or people will hate or dislike us because we fail to keep our mouths shut at that moment. I’m talking in part about the scathing remarks and replies on our WebCT with Murdoch students itself for MRM, at the same time, I’m also talking about it as a general comment.

A Murdoch student in the internal campus itself make a comment that a lot of us here in the KDU campus do not agree with and some of us were kind of pissed off with the comment because it’s somewhat bias and does not represent us as a whole. The student’s comment really ticked me off to, and I was thinking of replying something to tell her off but thought better of it. Instead I choose to keep quiet and let it be for fear of provoking the anger of the unit coordinator there who’s very partial to her students. Unfortunately, a couple of my coursemates did not think twice about the consequences and decided to say something to tell that student off which result in the coordinator condemning us by making very scathing remarks that indirectly insult our intelligence. Now, the whole class is in constant fear that she’ll penalise us for our final report which will be sent over to Murdoch to be marked by that coordinator. If she chooses to be bias and penalised us, there’s nothing much our lecturer here could do about it. Hopefully, she will not be bias although all of us think otherwise. *sigh *

As a general comment, I’ve always feel that we should always bear with some comments no matter how scathing there are if our replies will result in us digging our own grave. If our career or our lives depend on somebody, we should try to bear with it and just keep our mouths shut no matter how much we wanted to rebut cause you might never know when that person will make our lives miserable because we choose to answer back. If you really cannot stand that person, try to go around him/her and talk to somebody more superior than that person. Some of you might say that it’s bitching but if that person is making not only your life but everybody’s lives miserable, somebody should take action instead of waiting to see who would take action and be the ‘good guy’. Alternatively, if you choose to rebut, is it really worth it? Your life might get even more miserable than it is already and you have to live and bear with the consequences of your words because of a slip of the tongue. It’s quite similar when dealing with parents. Of course you can’t go around your parents and complain to somebody more superior than them, cause your grandparents or relatives will call you an unfilial child. Parents are human after all, and sometimes the things they say are really too much and overboard. But as their children, we should tell them politely that they are wrong instead of bursting into anger and use words that we’ll regret for life. Or, we could choose to keep quiet. Frankly, no matter what the choice is, it’ll either end up with us being miserable or them being miserable. Being the child of a single parent, I rather I be miserable than make my Mum miserable. Even though my Mum is sometimes kind of impossible, I’ll try to tell her nicely that she’s in the wrong. Or, I just wait for her to cool down before telling her what I really think about her outburst earlier.

Oh well, every one of us is entitle to freedom of speech. But please, sometimes when executing that freedom, think twice about the consequences it will have not only on others’ lives but also your own. It is just not worth it to make your life miserable unless speaking up is for a just cause.