My tongue does not have a hole in it, but if I were literally biting my tongue as often as I find myself doing so figuratively, there’d be quite a few severe wounds. It’s not really my natural inclination to hold back what I am thinking, so I have to make a tremendous conscious effort to do it. I find myself concentrating on this quite a bit lately.
Cliches are scorned by English teachers (as a former English teacher, I understand why), but that doesn’t mean they don’t have power to convey ideas. Biting your tongue is one example, and another is choosing your battles. The two go together. The reason I am biting my tongue is that I am choosing my battles.
There’s no point antagonizing people pointlessly. I don’t wish to antagonize people at all, but I’m perfectly willing to do so when there’s a good reason, and my definition of a good reason Read the rest of this entry »
