Recently I caught the beef of one
guy when I commented on a friend’s rant using a quote from Habeeb Akande: “People
with the smallest minds often have the biggest mouths”. I realized afterwards, I
broke one of the rules I set forth for myself while navigating social media, censure yourself. In a world of
differing cultures, you just don’t know how the other person will react.
When I thought about it in hindsight, It became apparent to me that the quote is something I live by when navigating my relationships, and rather unconsciously. Rationalize things before you say what’s on your mind, never judge a person’s actions because you don’t know what caused them in the first place, never dry your dirty laundry in public. For if I cannot understand and able to surmount my prejudices I will have succumbed to having the smallest of minds. When not minding what I say and not understanding/accepting people’s cultures, opinions, biases, I tend to say things that hurt people, I tend to disregard other people’s opinions and I often fail to recognize each person’s uniqueness and biases.
I’m not justifying the quote in the context of the post. Was I wrong in posting that? After all, I didn’t know the background. Maybe so, but in retrospect, it served as a reminder, to me, hopefully to my friend, to the guy, that what good would talking trash be if the return is feeling empty, reaping the wrath and a shallow and empty victory over the other person.
When I thought about it in hindsight, It became apparent to me that the quote is something I live by when navigating my relationships, and rather unconsciously. Rationalize things before you say what’s on your mind, never judge a person’s actions because you don’t know what caused them in the first place, never dry your dirty laundry in public. For if I cannot understand and able to surmount my prejudices I will have succumbed to having the smallest of minds. When not minding what I say and not understanding/accepting people’s cultures, opinions, biases, I tend to say things that hurt people, I tend to disregard other people’s opinions and I often fail to recognize each person’s uniqueness and biases.
I’m not justifying the quote in the context of the post. Was I wrong in posting that? After all, I didn’t know the background. Maybe so, but in retrospect, it served as a reminder, to me, hopefully to my friend, to the guy, that what good would talking trash be if the return is feeling empty, reaping the wrath and a shallow and empty victory over the other person.
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