Golden

Silence is a pretty wild state of being. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. For example, if your sister has just given birth (which she did, incidentally), then it's probably not a great idea to just sit there numb with the news. Ideally you should jump and shout and whatnot until everyone starts looking at you a little funny, at which point you can go into the kitchen and fix yourself a strong drink.

Another bad time to be quiet is when your team is down by a touchdown/run/(field)goal and they have the ball/puck at the twenty yard line/bases loaded/powerplay/there's a reason they call it the National Boring Association. You shouldn't be quiet at this moment, because it's ridiculous to be quiet when you still have a chance to come out ahead.

Sometimes though it's a good thing to just shut up. When you're sitting in class the first day, and your teacher announces that his name is Mr. Slartibartfast (and even more so when he writes it down on the blackboard), it would not be a good idea to snort loudly and announce to your nearest classmate that your new teacher had a name like a pencil on steroids. Aside from this not being very happy, it would also probably result in threatening behavior from your new teacher.

Silence is also tremendous when you're talking to someone and they're ranting about this, that, or the other, and they have absolutely no clue what they're talking about (this happens to me quite often, strangely enough). What's to do? Sure, you could correct their every misconception and try to help them see the light, or at least stop spreading the darkness, but would this really be effective? Probably not. Most people who engage in this sort of anti-social nonsense aren't willing to have their world views change. Even if they were, they aren't interested in hearing about it from you. So what's to do? Shut your mouth. Let it go. Realize that contrary to what VIN thinks, you aren't going to change anyone's minds.

Change we can believe in is quite possibly the most important phrase to ever come out of Barack Obama's mouth, but is that change really going to be accomplished by talking? I don't think so. Look, he's been talking for like fifty straight years now, and what do we have to show for it? The first Kenyan ever in the White House. Whereas when he was finally quiet, at the beer summit, this nation changed in ways more incredibly then you (the average blog reader) will ever be able to appreciate. Of course, since you are reading TRS it shows that you're better than the average blog reader, so maybe there is hope after all. Hmm, interesting question.