Damned If You Do and If You Don’t

To speak or not to speak?

When someone is out of line, does a mature person “take the high road” by ignoring the drama?  Or would it do more good to call out the bad behavior–so (at the very least) others have the chance to know the truth?

I don’t know.

But it makes me feel a little better knowing the smartest man who ever lived didn’t have a solid answer either:

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”

–A Proverb of Solomon

No matter which option you take, there are cons.

Be accused of stooping to the fool’s level?  Not good.

Allow foolishness to go unchallenged?  Also not good.

All of us have that close friend/relative who airs dirty laundry on social media, to the embarrassment of the whole group, right?

(Or maybe not all of us have that.  Am I the only one?)

Responding makes the rest of the family look equally petty and unstable and immature.

And yet, The Fool continues to be wise in her own eyes…

What to do, what to do, what to do?

I’d ask God for the wisdom of Solomon.  But, in this case, he wasn’t much help.  “You’re wrong no matter what you do,” he says.

Thanks for nothing, Sol.