Proverbs 26 – Your Business: Foolish Mad Dog Ears

Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool;
you’ll only look foolish yourself.
You grab a mad dog by the ears
when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.

Proverbs 26:4 & 17 from The Message

It is normal for a person to have an instant reaction to correct a person who is wrong, especially on simple facts.

One technique in business espionage is to talk to an official in an organization, not high ranking, but someone who would know the data, and purposefully undervalue the numbers you want. Try it sometime, go ask someone about their job and make sure to downplay the importance, value, or achievements by stating a lesser number and see what type of reaction you get.

I tied these two verses together today because the number one reason that I find myself butting into a quarrel that is none of my business is that the quarrel is foolish, or inaccurate.

What I am trying to do, partially inspired by the book How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, is to just let people be wrong. Only attempt to help people when they ask for it, or in other situations where I know they can save face and the relationship with them will not be killed.

This does not deal with people, countries, or groups who are your enemy (set on destroying you), that is dealt with in Proverbs 26:24-26, but in your daily life – it also has the parameter of “none of your business” where in many cases people don’t even mind their own business.

In the end the biggest thing is to look at a bigger picture before you act & seek to understand what is going on.

Part of the Proverbs Challenge series.