Thursday, October 9, 2008

To object, or grin and bear it?

Every now and then - especially as a gay person and sometimes with higher frequency than what you imagine - a situation comes up, when you're faced with the moral dilemma of whether to object (and consequently reprimand?) or simply grin and bear it.

So why would you choose the latter, if it's against your morals? Well, because the first option of objecting will often lead you to avoid having to hear the comments, but it will rarely do more than that. Basically, this means that you won't be there to object to other - and perhaps harsher - comments.

So... Grin and bear it? Well, I find myself taking this road more often than not. I tell myself that it's simply to stay on top of the situation instead of missing out on worse comments than the wisecrack about the waiter's lisp and lose wrist. I'm not so sure that I'm not sometimes just chickening out, but I can guarantee that I would never accept or ignore any truly hateful or discriminating comment. I guess that means that I'll choose to grin and bear it as a general rule, which instead means that the real question is: Up to which point? What is my personal limit and how will I then react?

Feeling quite philosophical,
- GayGirl

3 comments:

Landlady of Fat said...

Actually -- I think we all do that -- at least those of us who can be incognito.

I tend to assess those around me until I can drop the G bomb.

Then I like to do it at exactly their worst moment (for them).

I kinda get a kick out of it. ;)

Found you on TLL's blogroll. :)

Unknown said...

holy shit, i am so the opposite...it's really difficult for me to just grin and bear... i HAVE to speak my mind or reprimand or set the record straight...the comes from too many earlier years of just grinning & bearing and where the eff did that get me??

however, as i get older...as the 1/2 century mark quickly approaches...i do find that i am choosing my battles more carefully unless, of course, the perimenopausla hormones are in active mode and, well, that's just another story....lol

Unknown said...

pardon the spelling booboos...
:-(