In the 4 years I have spent away from home (ahhh!!! the sheltered life) I have come to the conclusion that idiots are of 2 kinds - one lot makes you feel the need to close your eyes and breathe (deep breathing helps I have heard) and the other, which happens to be the more dangerous lot, encourages you to close your eyes and not breathe at all. Just put a stop to this endless torture. This lot is indeed lethal. Burning with the zeal of 'let-me-show-you' and 'i-will-tell-you-what-to-do', fueled by a desire to hide the ignorance that marks them merely as belonging to the less-informed crowd, they end up turning themselves into creatures that are feared, terrorists, weapons of mass destruction.
I have wondered many a times about the best course of action when facing such a creature or such a situation (they are always in large numbers, prefer traveling in packs and even if they are standing individually always tend to attack you either simultaneously or consecutively but definitely repetitively).
You can't argue with them. It has been said, 'Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.' And I have reasons to believe that it is true.
You do NOT explain. NEVER. If you do, they will not understand. Or may be even listen to you. And then they will try to explain their point. They will speak to you. Tell you why they know the best. You will reach your close-your-eyes-and-don't-breathe state in a couple of minutes.
Walking away is not a great idea either. They are hunters by nature. They will follow you till they have you in their clutches and then they will start explaining.
AND NO, you can't always use violence to deal with such situations. It is considered illegal, I have heard, even if you try to argue that it was in self-defense. There is something called Human Rights promoted by fortunate people who haven't as of yet come across our nemesis.
SUICIDE you say? What good will come of it? It will only topple the balance that we strive to maintain. You do not want to tip the planet in their favour now, do you?
THEN WHAT DO I DO? Well. I tried shouting back. Didn't really work, as already explained. My ears have never been the same since I tried the explaining bit. Walking away and sulking...naaaa. I still have that harpoon sticking through my brain. Have never been in the blessed position to have used violence. What I do is cower and hail. Yes. Have you read The Wheel of Time? The book teaches you how to use one power. You need to wrap yourself in it. To let it engulf you and then become the source of your power. I do just that. The power I use is the knowledge that everything is momentary. The only truth is that we live in the world of idiocy. I wrap myself in the belief that there is the idol in front of me and there are the religious fanatics surrounding me. And then there is the cauldron waiting for me if I displease either the God or the fanatics. Now I do my Sijdah. I agree to whatever has been said. No, no commitments. I find that it is difficult to live with guilty conscience but it is worse if you have an injured ego. So I nod. Do my 'Achcha' and 'OK'. I dream of a distant planet. A distant planet filled with chocolates and books, my favourite mangas and animes, and non-idiots. Not smart people. I am not vain enough to either consider myself as one or to hope for what we call 'smart company'. I dream of normal people. There is float and jump and run and dance. And when the dismissal bell rings, informing me of the end of the harangue or let's say the prayer ceremony, I look up, straight into the eyes of the monster, smile, give my thanks and run. Run towards freedom. Away from captivity of intellect.
(What did I just write????? My technique must be flawed. It has not been working. They have got me. Why did I write this????? I am not reading this again to check for typos or whatever. Why should I be the only one to suffer???? Please read and cry.)
