“The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.”
A neighborhood friend called me this week, saying she needed to apologize for something. It caught me off guard.
Immediately my mind began searching through our conversation the day before...
What had she said that could have been insulting?
Was there something I should have been offended by?
What did I miss?
When I was a young child, I had a reputation of being much more sensitive. It’s rumored that I would cry when someone would laugh at my jokes, or cry whenever my picture was taken (I could still do that).
But thankfully, especially to my husband’s benefit, I must have outgrown the ultra-sensitivity. It wouldn’t make for a happy home to be crushed by every little perceived slight. Many things we just need to let go. Everybody benefits.
According to an ancient proverb, you can know a man by three things:
- His behavior in drinking
- His way of handling money
- His conduct when deeply excited
In the end, my friend’s insult was a comment she passed along about someone else’s comment about ducks. Um, not offended.
Oh, that all insults were so easy to ignore!
Perhaps with the proper perspective, more could be.
