"Life's a bitch, now so am I."

(Inspired by Indiequill's post here.)

Why do we bite our tongues? Why, when faced with something or someone annoying, do we swallow down our anger and tell ourselves that there's no need to make a fuss, the irritant will soon be gone?

I recently had the dubious pleasure of meeting, after a very long time, an old acquaintance. Said old acquaintance - let us call him Q - has always been abrasive to the point of rudeness. Case in point: when we were at school together, Q was an agnostic, which was totally fine by me. I don't care if you're a Rastafarian or a Pastafarian; your religious beliefs - or lack thereof - are your own. Also frankly, I was brought up to believe it was rude to question other people's religious beliefs. Q, sadly, suffered no such scruples. "I don't know how you can believe in God," he said, "knowing what we do about science."

Now, ideally, this is the point where I would say, "Back off, jackass - my religious beliefs are none of your beeswax." Instead, what I did do was to smile politely and noncommitally and murmur something to the effect of to each his own. I could have pointed out that if Q was such a proud agnostic, why did he still pretend to be religiously observant at home? Nope, I shut up.

It was to be hoped, therefore, that Q had mellowed over time. Sadly, this was not the case. He still had an opinion for every occasion and the more strident the better. "You live where? I could never live there. Isn't it full of rich Mallus*?" Did I say anything, dear reader? I wish. How I wish I had said something freezing and cutting. Instead I again murmured something polite and noncomittal (You may notice a trend there.) What did I have to lose by saying, "Shut. UP! You don't know half as much as you claim to, and what you do know is iffy, so please hold your tongue regarding things you know nothing about." Instead I shut up, as usual.

It is difficult to shake off the habits of a lifetime, to silence the inner voice that continually says, "be nice, or people won't like you" but I've decided to atleast try, because frankly, I'll like myself better that way. So, word to the wise, people who are going to be rude to me in future - I'll smile politely, catch myself, take a deep breath and tell you to fuck off.

*It's not, by the way.