By Martin Dodd

“Never argue with a fool, people passing by may not know who is who.”

My father-in-law told me that. I wish I had always followed it.

My father had a similar piece of advice: “Son, when God molded people out of the clay of earth, he stacked them against the wall and went to the refrigerator to get their brains. While he was gone, some of the people walked off. Don’t waste your time with the ‘walk-offs’.”

Again, good advice that I wish I had followed.

I often shared these little proverbs with my wife and children. They usually just stared at me, or ignored my passing down wisdom of the ages.

Also, from a good friend, I had learned another pearl that I did have the opportunity to use in open debate.

Almost every organization has a fool or a walk-off. My homeowners association is no different.

Some years ago, I was president of the association. A matter of moment had energized our community, bringing out ninety percent of the owners to a meeting.

One particular irascible owner, Fred, who had the self-appointed role of gadfly and nitpicker, became highly agitated over angel pinhead-dancing. He and I engaged in a lengthy verbal duel over the finer points of homeowner rules and restrictions.

At a peak moment, my friend’s adage came to mind. I paused (for effect), then delivered my debate stopper: “Fred, this is getting us nowhere. A friend once told me that you cannot reason a person out of a position that he did not reason himself into.” It ended the argument, and I felt somewhat smug.

Later that night, I asked my wife, “What do you think of the way I handled Fred?”

She gave me a third-grade-teacher smile and replied, “Dear, our fathers were right, it was a waste of time, and I couldn’t tell the fool from the walk-off.”

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Martin lives in Steinbeck Country: Salinas, California. Following his retirement from community service, he began creative writing in 2002 at age 67. His work has appeared in Cadillac Cicatrix, Hobart Journal (web issue), several issues of Homestead Review, Holy Cuspidor, Foolish Times, and Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul (poem). He has won, or received recognition in, various contests: St. Louis Short Story Contest, Writer’s Digest, By Line Magazine, Glimmer Train, Inkwell Journal, Writers Weekly, Central Coast Writers (California), East of Eden Writers Conference, and NorthernPros.