“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. ” Proverbs 15:1
“Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything.” Big Book of AA
This morning I overheard a conversation I found annoying. I wasn’t eavesdropping. On the contrary, I’d have been delighted if the chatfest had moved out of the locker room where I was getting dressed. Here’s a recap:
Someone commented that she was disappointed her pair of white dress shoes had worn out before they should have. That’s a reasonable complaint if you ask me. The ladies she was talking to stated with authority that she shouldn’t have worn the shoes so often (she didn’t mention how often she wore them, so I am unclear as to why the commenters felt they had enough info to make this assessment). Furthermore, they informed her that she shouldn’t wear white shoes anyway because beige is the new white. The shoe lady argued her point once or twice, then…and I was impressed to watch this…she simply stopped participating in the conversation.
This less-than-two-minute-exchange reminded me of another recent conversation, this one involving yours truly. It began innocently enough. A friend asked a question which I answered truthfully. It felt as though the she wanted to argue with my response. She kept asking the same question in a different way, possibly in hopes of…heck…I don’t know. Well, the truth is the truth. I had no further response. I wasn’t going to state anything other than the facts. So I stopped participating in the conversation. We were not on Skype so my silence was even more awkward. The call ended soon after.
What in the world does that story have to do with health, fitness, and weight loss? There’s a saying, “it’s not what you’re eating, it’s what’s eating you.” There was a time when I would have argued ad nauseam to make sure such a conversation ended with me as the victor. Now, I can let someone be wrong without needing to point it out to them. I can let someone think I’m wrong when I’m not. When I am wrong (hey, it happens) I can admit it. As long as I know the truth I can live and let live. That’s a good feeling.
482gr8 