Casting Pearls Before Swine

If there’s one lesson I’ve learnt in life, its that sometimes it’s best to hold your tongue. And sometimes I’ve literally had to hold my tongue between my teeth in order to restrain myself.

I’m the type of person who can’t stand injustice, but the problem with that is that I think I have to come to everyone’s rescue even when I’m not wanted.

My mother always told me not to case pearls before swine, a phrase I never truly understood as a child. What she meant was that I shouldn’t waste my time on those who won’t appreciate the value you have to offer.

Going back to my first experience when the concept of casting pearls before swine became apparent to me was when I was in high school.  Now you’re probably all thinking I’m going to tell a sad sob story about the mean girls who wouldn’t sit with me. Well, they didn’t, but this story isn’t about that.

It was actually a teacher who was the swine in this case.

It was a drama lesson and we were reviewing our fellow classmates performances of various Biblical stories we had to interpret and turn into morality plays.

During my review of one of the class favourites I mentioned that maybe she should submerge herself in her character, Adam the first man, because to me Adam was still sounding a lot like a teenage girl and ‘his’ mannerisms were incredibly feminine.

Almost immediately, I was told to keep quiet, by the adult who was meant to be our mentor, because what I had just said was “the most unintelligent thing he had ever heard.” He then proceeded to tell me, in front of the entire class no less, that I would never be as good of an actress as my classmate.

Little did he know…

Shortly after moving schools, because of the mean girls you all thought this story was going to be about, I joined the drama department at my new school. I was not going to let one bitter old man’s words interfere with my passion and love of theatre.

He was no only terribly wrong, I shone brighter than I ever expected. I ignored his words, but never forgot them and they drove me to push myself to be the best, not only did I win best actress in Matric, I received full colours for drama, and I was one of the leads in our schools musical, yes me. I sang my little heart out for months and practiced my choreography until my poor dance partner got dizzy.

The point of this story is not that I had a crappy teacher who was rude and said hurtful things, the point of this story it to show you that sometimes you cast your pearls before swine and they get trampled in the mud, but sometimes you need to evaluate your situation. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying you shouldn’t voice your opinion and have your say - I’m saying be wise enough to know what to say and when to say it.