How to Handle Idiots?

Looking for the dictionary meaning of ‘Idiot’ actually made my day. It simply says ‘a stupid person’.

Idiot - ˈɪdɪət/

a stupid person

That’s like a big ‘WOW’. Short and simple and most importantly easy to understand and accept.

Now, what happens when you have an argument with an idiot? I read somewhere that “You should never fight with a pig in the dirt. All the time you spend dirtying yourself, you fail to realize that the pig is actually enjoying it”. Profound analysis. The crux of the story is that fighting with an idiot is a pointless activity. All the time you spend arguing and making your point, the idiot can only blabber his heart out and steer the boat his way.

Now the million dollar question is, what happens when you can’t avoid an idiot? Maybe someone at your workplace, or your club or your school, college, university, wherever. What happens when you can’t avoid one? It may sound really simple for those who are into meditation or yoga, but for a simple one like us, it may seem nightmare at times. In absence of a solid patience level, it becomes almost impossible to handle the situation keeping your calm.

My day started with an encounter with an idiot today, and unfortunately, he was not the one whom I could avoid. Well, no matter how much I try to keep my head cool, there are certain things that I can’t tolerate. Changing words at your convenience, being a hypocrite, carrying a fake identity are primary among them. Whenever I come across these, I genuinely feel a grand disgust which boils my blood and carries it all through the valves of my heart straight to the brain. This, in turn, makes me uncompromising and I end up being a different person altogether. While I was talking to this person today, he kept changing his words, trying to make a fool out of me over and over again. I was upset. I kept arguing with him for all his foolish statements and ended up increasing my blood pressure enormously, and needless to say that the end result was zero.

In order to make it good, I also took it up with the higher authorities so that such kind of behavior is not encouraged. As I went and spoke to the concerned authorities about it, the guy showed genuine concern for me stating that this is not how he would have spoken to me. He felt very bad about it. Trust me, 100 marks for his concern, but after that, he simply said that there is very less that he could do for me in this as the guy on the other side is also in trouble. To which I anticipate, the only trouble he has in life in being an idiot and nothing else.

“Please, I understand that this is not how he should be doing, but he is like that only.” – was the short and sweet answer that I got which reminded me of another short and sweet word that I started my day with today.

Finally, I attained enlightenment. realizing, in addition to the time waste that I had in the morning, this is nothing but an extension of the same. I reiterated the same saying of the pig and the dirt and consoled myself only with the fact that no matter how bad it is now, it could have been worse.

When I say ‘it could be worse’ I mean I could be one of them. Thanks to the Almighty or the Universe, whoever observes and listens to all of us that I am not one of them.