Forever Hold Your Peace

By Jim Hagarty

I have accomplished some things in my life during those times when I shut up, often much more than the times when I spoke out.

Speaking out has its place. Shutting up is pretty much appropriate at any time, all the time.

It’s been said, or at least I think it has, by someone who didn’t shut up for a change, that the wiser a man becomes, the quieter he is.

The emptiest vessel, after all, makes the loudest gong when you strike it.

It’s a tricky equation. Some people are interminably silent because they, in fact, have nothing to say. Some people are interminably talkative because they have a lot to say.

The ones to watch out for are those who are interminably talkative despite the very observable fact that they have absolutely nothing to say.

You know what I’m saying?

Author: Jim Hagarty

I am a 72-year-old retired journalist, busy recovering from a lifelong career as an unretired journalist. This year marks a half century of my scratching out little fables about life. My interests include genealogy, humour and music. I live in a little blue shack in Canada and spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble. I am not that good at it. I also spent years teaching journalism. Poor state of journalism today: My fault. I have a family I don't deserve, a dog that adores me, and two cars the junk yard refuses to accept. My prized possessions include my old guitar and a razor my Dad gave me when I was 14 and which I still use when I bother to shave. Oh, and my great-great-grandfather's blackthorn stick he brought from Ireland in the 1850s. I have only one opinion but it is a good one: People take too many showers.