The Noisy Fool

Chances are unless you live in a hole by yourself, at some point someone has annoyed you. Maybe intentionally, maybe by accident, but at some point you have been annoyed.

When this happened how did you react? Did you get angry and give the other person a piece of your mind? Was shouting, storming off or aggression part of your response? Or did you just ignore it and carry on?

We see in today's passage that the wise way to approach this situation is to 'keep calm and carry on' acting rationally and responding with thought and care. This is far better than quickly erupting with a poorly thought through spur of the moment response.

When you are getting wound-up this may not feel like the obvious solution, but it is the best in the long run. As your rushed, emotion filled response to them is likely to lead to them feeling as bad as you, and it descends into a bitter downward spiral of ill-feeling. With practice, and support from God we can all get better at ignoring insults.

We live in a world where foolish people can't let go of their petty arguments, name calling or other trivial agitations. These instances commonly spill-over into social media and sometimes even the press. Just look at the so called 'Pleb-gate scandal' in the UK. Grown men have allowed an argument about name calling to escalate into headline news and legal enquiries, causing hurt to everyone involved. Just think of how this could have been avoided if they had followed the advice in this week's passage!

Next time someone annoys or insults you try to be wise and keep calm, don't lash out and be foolish! A wise person uses their words with care, and ignores petty insults or posts on social media. Have a good week!

Header image by: Tom Goskar via Flickr