Who Wants to be a Fool?

Have you ever known anyone who likes to argue? There are those people that feel the need to argue about everything…..a need to be right or forge a stake in the ground on almost any issue. Peace, I think, is the antonym for argument ….I love peace.

This past fall we were in the middle of football season attending a game. I overheard a conversation between two very smart men who were sitting nearby. Of course, they were friends but yet they were arch rivals when it came to who they rooted for in football….they were actually trying to convince the other which team and coaches were better. It started off friendly but escalated very quickly. This isn’t the first time I have witnessed such “fruitless conversations.” I sat there and thought, “Really???” Neither would come out a winner and to top it off…..there was going to be strife and contention.

I walked away and thought….that is so stupid….why on earth did they think they were going to win that argument??? It was such an irrational conversation and irrational thinking on both their parts. Knowing their different allegiances, why would they think either could possibly have a positive outcome? Arguing over sports is usually a man kind of thing…but women love to try to one-up each other as well.

Just the other day I overheard two young girls in their early twenties talking about their different sororities. They were in an all out “polite” war on who was in the better sorority….Duh?….Did they really think they were going to win and convince the other that their sorority was better??? I cannot say I have never tried to “one-up someone” because I have. But I can say at 51…I run from those situations now. They are futile and immature and praise God that is one lesson I think I have learned. No one wins the argument, and on top of that….such arguments have pride written all over them.

I can remember being in an argument about 14 years ago about vitamins. We can find all kinds of things to argue over, can’t we? I could state all the reasons why the vitamins I took were better….but I realized then that it was a losing battle…in some ways…arguing wasn’t accomplishing anything…..! I found it was better to tell them what I loved about my vitamins and what they did for me personally rather than try to downgrade or diminish what they were doing or not doing. Respecting what they took, or thought, was much more important than trying to be right! I realized I needed to choose what would honor them.

I love the quote, “Never open a can of worms unless you plan on going fishing!” This is so true….it goes right along with the scripture found in Proverbs 17:14, “Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam, so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.”…. I have found from experience that the scripture found in Proverbs 20:3 benefits everyone, “It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.”

There are no real benefits gained from petty arguments. It breeds only strife. Who wants to be a fool? It is better for our words to be described by others as Proverbs describes them in Proverbs 16:24, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

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