Monday, August 15, 2011

Don't Bray Back!

"Sometimes I can be such a dumb ass!"
(greeting card by www.Interart.com)

A couple of days ago my niece Sara posted the "Best quote ever" that seems to be floating around the internet:

"Don't try to win over the haters,
you are not the jackass whisperer."

Thanks Sara! This is definitely going on my "favorites" list, along with one that I have long remembered from the television series NYPD Blue. Racial slurs have led to conflict in the department, angering one of the younger officers, Reggie Fancy. Even though Reggie's anger is justified, his older brother, Lt. Arthur Fancy advises him not to act upon it: "My idea [about maintaining self - respect in the face of racial insults] is when I hear an ass out in the field braying, I don't feel any deep need to start braying back."

What excellent advice: Just don't bray back!

Centuries ago, the ancient Greek Poet Sappho captured a similar cautionary sentiment in one of her short poems:

#76
When some fool
Explodes rage
in your breast
hold back that
yapping tongue!



P.S.
"I see stupid people; they're everywhere;
they don't even know they're stupid."

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