Speak up but please be silent. Thank you.

Why is it that when you call a spade "a spade," you get logged as the insensitive bitch? Or better yet "overreacting" or "TOO sensitive"? Since when did accurately describing a person or a situation, become such a negative reflection of the person doing the describing?

A close male friend of mine has once described me as having a "strong personality" regarding my recent dating fiascoes, and he's right. I do have a very strong personality. I have certain beliefs that when crossed, my reaction albeit positive or negative, will be quite obvious. I don't feel that I should have to apologize for them however, if I'm not being rude or disorderly.

So if something upsets me, don't I have the right to react as such? Again, I'm not talking about being rude or disorderly... that's not my style really (I'd rather not be the loud, angry, Black woman truthfully so I try to stay angry within my limits, lol).

Our society is all about freedom of speech yet total censorship. You can say what you want to say but... maybe not in the workplace...or perhaps not during peak TV hours as the kids could be home from school... or probably not without the proper movie rating...or...or...or...

Such is the trend. Maybe as you get older, you censor less (that's the cliché anyway). I don't know if that's it though...

Example #1: Today in my weekly meeting, I said what was on every body's minds yet I received the "How dare she!" eyes. Example #2: I was reunited with a guy I dated & called him out for his foul, immature behavior. He seemed appalled. Example #3: I wasn't paid for a full day's work & instead of accepting what I got quietly & being grateful for "the opportunity," I complained for being short-changed. I was criticized for being irritated.

None of those 3 examples have anything to do with me approaching 30. They're each (in their own way) samples of how society has bred us to believe that there are some times when our mouths should remain shut, so when we unleash our tongues, we are frowned upon. Castrated. Given the Scarlett A.

I don't profess to know it all. In fact, I can argue that I know the art form of dance & the language structure of French very well but that's about it. Perhaps it IS my strong personality that I was raised with, but I believe that if you have something to say, you say it and If something is wrong, you let it be known that's it wrong. Of course there are caveats to that (ha ha!). I was also raised not to hurt any one's feelings (on purpose), be faithful to God, respect your elders, etc. etc. so sometimes I WILL bite my tongue, depending on the situation. That is to be expected. However, this "speak your mind but really be silent" memo, I am not too fond of and perhaps that has a lot to do with age...