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Friday, August 22, 2014

Flying past conflicts


Oisin Conolly
I knew better. Of course in this case I almost always know better and yet I took the bait. I entered the argument knowing full well that no matter what I said, what evidence I presented that I would not win. Not because I wasn't smart enough. This is never a measure of intelligence. It is almost always a measure of endurance, of tolerance, or patience, and of wit. I know this and yet again I took the bait.

I guess a small part of me thought that I could finally win one. That I had the proponderance of the evidence on my side. I carefully researched, analyzed, and  cited  source after source after source. And of course it was to no avail. That would have happened had I simply spouted out something from my mind and would have saved me a lot of trouble and the headache that came right after.

I could have just stood there like a tree stump. Then maybe the other person would have gotten tired of lamenting and then perhaps lacking the stimulation of  my voice to continue just stopped. It could have happened that way. It could have happened that way if I had only given it a chance. But instead I agreed to partake in a no win situation and was rewarded with a headache that I richly deserved.

I might do better the next time. And then again, I might not. Temptation is hard to resist. Plus most of the time we have our minds made up. We just create noise to confuse the other person.

 Remember, you don’t have to attend every argument you are invited to.
 (I do not know who said this, but I need to remember it because I am so sure there will be a next time).