Rules of Life, The, 4th Edition

RULE 11

Be the last to raise your voice

For me this is a really hard one. I do love to have a good shout. I came from a big robust family where shouting was a way of life and the only way to get yourself heard, get any attention or to make a point. Dysfunctional? Yes. Noisy? Yes. Helpful? Probably not.

One of my sons has inherited the shouting gene and he is very good at it. The temptation is to join in. Luckily this Rule is be the last to raise your voice, so I do have a get-out clause. If he shouts first, I’m allowed to shout back. But I do try really hard not to. For me, shouting in any form is a bad thing, a sign that I have lost control, lost the argument. The son of a vicar once saw his father’s sermon notes and in the margin he had pencilled, ...