By Hu Wo (Cuckoo’s Song)
It is well known that man is a social animal. To be able to lead an independent life in the human world between man and man or between region and region – is likely to be hard in the long run with regard to essential food products, fashion accessories, cosmetics, medicine, transportation, technology, and so many others. At worst, we humans must communicate with each other simply for our safety. In communicating like this, we are given to use verbal language or body language for any or no apparent reason. One theme may be added that should be considered carefully. Every action will have any reaction, as Newton stated in Physics. But in the world of social communication, will we need to respond to every word or behaviour done by others towards us? This is a challenging question, I should believe. Here, the no-reaction method of communication ought to be the best solution to social problems in relationships.
What I want to mean is that the no-reaction method is just a kind of reaction by which we do not respond to words or behaviours of others towards us out of anger immediately. Even though we have no response to those things at once, it does not show that we will never use `no reaction’ to others; that is, we will have to wait for time to respond to them in the short term or in the long term. While doing no reaction, we can manage to control our temper bit by bit if we go off the deep end during this time and then even find potential solutions to the current situations as soon as possible. In fact, the reason why we do not take an immediate reaction to anything or anyone in our presence is not because we are afraid of these but because we are finding proper solutions to the present problem. In most cases, my no-reaction method will refer to that communication with anything or anybody is negligible as usual if we wish, seeing that instantaneous communication has tragic consequences.
In some contexts, there is no use in replying to anyone very quickly when communicating with each other. As a quick reaction, our words or behaviours sometimes have no effect on others. While reacting, we will only be exhausted or lost for words, but others may feel nothing about it. Those people who should not give any reaction in mutual relationships also include stubborn ones with superstitious beliefs. They never admit that they are wrong about anything as well as they can be under the illusion that they are always right whatever they do. So, it would be best not to go and talk to any person who does not accept causes and effects, the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, or do’s and don’ts on a matter of life and death critically and logically. Even if so, our energy and effort in use for reaction should surely be in vain. Such persons will never listen to us in the letter, no matter how well we say something.
Not only that, but undesirable consequences will arise from a recklessly fast reaction to others’ words or behaviours that are totally annoying. In consequence, a negative emotion called hatred may occur undesirably between action and reaction. From this hatred come revenge and vindictiveness — some even commit serious crimes such as murder. Otherwise, afterwards, some keep little contact with or stay away from those who have nothing in common with them. It is only human nature to make others follow one’s words or behaviours, sticking to the letter of the law. If a person who always acquiesces in anyone else’s likes declines or is adamantly opposed to his wish only once, the former will become the latter’s very enemy quite unreasonably. We can hardly control the temporary anger that crops up from unexpected circumstances. Such uncontrollable anger is some kind of habit, of course. A bad habit that has lasted for a long time turns out to be a general routine or even universal truth in the fragility of human society.
As the saying goes, silence is golden, whereas some people say that anyone staying silent means admitting to mistakes. No reaction to poisonous words or behaviours uses little or no language, and it can reduce potentially dangerous social issues. Admittedly, it is rare to find a prominent person with few social enemies. A sudden sense, anger, in particular, naturally comes and goes or appears and disappears. The critical time to perform matters of great importance before too much anger is lost is needed indeed. Figuratively, the language looks like an absolutely sharp sword for social communication; the language tool is possible to make a person alive or dead. Thus, before any case of life or death should go, the best no-reaction method of social communication should go, especially in fast and furious states of affairs. There is no need for us to respond to all cases in everyday occurrence for certain.
