I can’t possibly be the only one who thinks about this. In fact, I’m sure most of us, at some point, have wondered how certain conversations become so derailed so quickly.
To be clear, not every subject is easy to navigate. Not every conversation has to be adorned with smiles. Sometimes seriousness is the correct melody for the tune. But I’m talking about those moments when the cellist falls off the side of the stage, and it wasn’t part of the crescendo.
I must have heard this lesson a long time ago, but for some reason it’s easy to forget: we don’t know the associations people carry with them.
You could be casually arguing that maybe milk should disappear from our diets entirely, while the person across from you happens to be a dairy farmer. And I suppose we may have been talking to one last night.
I hope it’s clear I’m being intentionally vague about the profession and even the topic itself. I doubt the person would appreciate me sharing personal details, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a small nugget of wisdom worth preserving here for my future self.
A younger version of me — far more idealistic and far less patient — would have become annoyed, maybe even upset. Anecdotes, as important as they can be to individuals, shouldn’t become the foundation for laws or sweeping conclusions without careful examination.
But then the cynic who occasionally hijacks the keyboard wonders if that isn’t precisely how many laws came to exist in the first place.
At any rate, this little entry is mostly a reminder.
If it suddenly feels like you stepped on an emotional landmine, it’s probably better to practice empathy and sheath the sword, so to speak.
Not every argument is worth winning.
And not every victory is a win.
MenO
