(목동김상철토플전문학원) 고3 김혜빈 독립형 WT #139(OFF TOPIC) If you cannot say anything nice about people like your friends,

[T&A Big Fan]

#139 If you cannot say anything nice about people like your friends, teachers, family members or any celebrities, then it is better not to say anything at all.

Over the past few decades, a variety of ways to state one’s opinion in public have developed increasingly. So, it has been generally argued whether it is better to stay silent in times when one cannot say anything nice about people like friends, teachers, family members or any celebrities. Some people might agree with the statement that unkind words can easily destroy relationships. Meanwhile, others might disagree. However, I think it is better to say anything that you want to say, even if it’s something impolite to speak of. Actually, I have a couple of reasons to support my opinion. I will explain and develop them in the next following paragraphs.

First of all, saying even the most impolite things is better than being silent because criticism can change things into better situations. When one stays silent just to stay polite and kind, the one is not doing a great job because he is ignoring the situation. If one frankly points out the truth all the time, his or her unkind words can motivate and teach others to change and improve. Criticism can improve one’s personality and actions, such as making people have more leadership, mercy or thoughtfulness. Although some people might say that saying things that aren’t nice to the people around you will break relationships and bonds, true relationships cannot sustain it through lies and false sayings. To use one story as an example of this, it was told that Ludwig van Beethoven, the great pianist and composer, had an assistant during his time alive but almost deaf and blind. Beethoven was a stubborn man who thought he was the greatest. Even when he couldn’t hear or see very well, he expected himself to make a masterpiece all by his own strength. When it became harder and harder for him to maintain his career, he searched for the right assistant to help him compose. People lined up to be his assistant, but they were all rejected because they didn’t say anything to him when he intentionally made a mistake in his compositions and chords. They all thought it was best to say nothing at all when they can’t be nice to the famous pianist. However, one person became his assistant because he criticized Beethoven’s work for every intentional mistake and beyond. After spending a hard time with each other, Beethoven became more understanding and humble while his assistant became more talented and courageous, due to the frank criticism they gave to each other. It is actually the criticism and sincerity that forms a human’s characteristics and fixes bad situations rather than the soothing words that are sweet as honey.

Moreover, saying nothing that is rude and disrespectful must be avoided because it makes it harder for anyone to start a truthful conversation with other people. Starting normal conversations with other people might sound easy, but it’s actually quite difficult when the conversation stops as soon as one disagrees with the other. When one makes a claim about his or her opinion, the one could share ideas and have conversations formed in truth with anyone no matter whom they are. Although some people might say that having conversations of negativity is unnecessary to share with others, you can never learn anything new and share what you know with other people if you filter out all the negative facts in the claims you make. To give an example to prove this, there were two candidates for a Korean public school presidential election. One was a girl and the other was a boy. Each of their supporters held up signs in front of the school every morning, and the candidates were told to go around classrooms to speak with others and do speeches. The girl candidate had a tendency to stop talking when there was nothing nice to say. The boy candidate seemed more careless because he did the opposite. Whenever each of them met someone opposed against them, the girl would stop the whole conversation and turn away while the boy candidate expanded the conversation and tried to persuade the opposing person into his direction. No matter who one, many students replied that they shared and learned a lot from the boy candidate by the conversations shared with him rather than the girl who had difficulty in sincere communication.