The art of Arguing

Never argue with people who do not enjoy arguing....or who have narrow minds and set opinions. Arguing is an art form...some people can do it, most of us can't.  I learned this over dinner one night.  We had invited two couples over.  One couple was new to our community and the other couple were long time friends.  At some point in the evening, an argument arose between the two men.  The wives of the men didn't seem upset, my husband wasn't worried....but as the conversation grew louder, I was uncomfortable.  Then I had an "ah ha" moment.  I realized that these two intelligent men weren't really arguing, they were seriously debating two sides of the issue and were enjoying every minute of it.
That was almost 40 years ago, and the group still gets together a couple of time a year for a weekend of discussion, debate, eating, visiting and wine.  We live in different parts of the state now but that friendship has lasted.

In my family, when I was growing up, arguing didn't happen.  My Mom would complain and express her opinions on everything...not loudly but frequently.  My Dad, who had the patience of Job,  would listen and then either agree  or say  something like "we can talk about this later."  That meant Mom had lost the argument.  I didn't realize until later how frustrating that must have been for Mom.