Coward or Pacifist?
An easy question to ask but a difficult one to answer.
When I am in a situation where my shouting would aggravate the situation before settling the concerned issue but crop up new issues and I decide to keep quiet, am I to be called a coward for not facing the issue? Or a pacifist for preventing further issues?
If I keep quiet many may argue that the issue remains unsolved. On the other hand if I don’t keep quiet then the matter will sprout more problems. So is it better to keep one issue unsettled (for now) or to settle one issue and start another?
If I keep quiet for the moment, then the settlement of the issue is postponed and if taken up at an appropriate time, perhaps it wouldn’t result in drastic outcomes as it would if I shout in response immediately. But, what if an appropriate time doesn’t pop up thereby resulting in a warehouse of negative emotions which could destroy the relationship?
So what am I supposed to do? Keep quiet or retort?
Am I to be called a coward or a pacifist?
ranfuchs
Pro 
I think it is a question of why you don't act. Great martial artists stopped fighting because they knew they could, and believed they'd get better results without fighting.
Many don't fight and compare themselves to the great martial artists. This is wrong.
If you believe you can achieve more by non-fighting, then you are a pacifist. If you just afraid to fight, regardless of what you are trying to achieve, than you are a coward.
If you don't know what you are trying to achieve, then you should stop fighting and start finding out.