getting a reputation

These days in conversation, I can speak up about what I believe in. But just because I think I am right it doesn’t necessarily bestow any magical power on my arguments. As soon as I attempt to persuade people, I find they’re not putty in my hands after all. They can’t be moulded to my will. And just because I’m vegan doesn’t make everything I say be respected. Therefore by being fearless with my words won’t necessarily impress. More likely I will be simply irritating. If I’m too outspoken, I’ll either be ignored or have what I’m saying denied, if only to save face. If I mean to make people feel ashamed, that will lodge in their memory. It will act as a warning for them that I am prone to moral lecturing. I will be resented for trying to make them feel ashamed. To add to their own justification, they’ll not only see me as preaching but of boasting about my own achievements. Unless handled carefully, "animal talk" can be unnecessarily dangerous. As Robert Louis Stevenson says: “All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer”.