Silence, the best answer or is it weakness?

"Silence is the best answer"-I have heard such kind of thing many times and perhaps you also heard about it. Everyone has their own experience and according to my experience I cannot agree with statement all the time. Sometimes I felt that silence is the best answer indeed but again also felt that being silent doesn't so the issues. Sometimes it can also make things more complicated. So, I really doubt that statement is valid for every situation. Let me share some situations from my life for better understanding.

There was a time when few people tried to humiliate me. I don't know the exact reason why they wanted but I can remember because in my entire life there I only few people who done such a thing. Usually, I am polite and try to maintain good relationships with everyone but still there some people who weren’t satisfied. Maybe they were jealous or something else (just my guess). Those few people spread some rumors about me and intention was to humiliate me and I also agree at some point I felt a little humiliated also even if I didn't show it outside. I just simply ignored everything like I didn't care. Those people ended up stopping it while I wasn't comforting them and nor did I move against them. I could comfort them quite well as I knew some of their secrets which were easy to reveal. I just felt those people are not worth enough to waste my energy and none of us would get ending except a fake satisfaction. I guess those people came to their senses with time, and the situation became better again. I guess those people understood the meaning of my silence, and they were sensible enough to understand the situation.

Let's share about a different situation. I was staying in one of my distant relatives’ houses for my study purposes. They were good at the beginning but somehow, they changed after few years. Maybe they felt that they had some rights to me and could decide for me as I was saying in their house. I saw nothing wrong if they made decision for me as long as it was for my good career. It meant that thought me as their own and I was happy to understand but they were some kind of overdone it. Later they acted like they could make decisions for my family which was too much. They could give suggestions at most. I felt bad when most of our conversation ended up humiliating my family. I started to talk less about anything as most of the time the conversation led to my family situation. I was silent for 6 months thinking that it would end with my silent treatment. I endured for 6 months but situation didn't change, and I just said harshly to clear line in their rights. I am good debater when I debate and I comfort them and humiliate them using their own words against them and they were helpless as I used their logic most of the time to defeat them. Then they stopped doing that. Maybe they didn't want to mess with me as I was comforting them with humiliation, and I was someone for whom they were receiving money each month. If I leave, it would be their financial loss.

There are another kind of situations. Some people exist in society or in our group who try to show them superior and try to dominate others. They try to prove that dominance in any cost even if it harms others. Even some of them feel good about bullying others. I have seen many people accepting that it's okay and letting the situation go but they are actually suffering for it. I witnessed such a situation in schools, universities and societies everywhere. Whatever happened to them was injustice, but they didn't speak a word. I knew that they were negative consequences if they tried to speak but they were suffering for also which wasn't fair also. I wasn't afraid of anyone, and I asked them if they wanted to speak, I would take their side but rarely did someone take such a stand. How could I speak for them when they are not ready to speak for themselves, and they choose to endure everything. The choose silence and this time silence of them is not the best answer. It's just representing their weakness.