You can’t argue with stupidity. –John Cougar Melloncamp

In the Spring of 1989, the college parties on campus and off-campus were in full blossom.  On one particular night, our fraternity road-tripped over to Chapel Hill, NC for a mixer with another sorority.  The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was electric and the (cheap) drinks were flowing like a storm-soaked river.  At the end of the evening, a few of my buddies and I piled into the car of another fraternity brother, who had the unenviable task of serving as the designated driver that evening.

Having been in his shoes before, I knew first-hand the level of ridiculousness he had to endure on the seven-mile trip back to campus.  But, on this night, I was not in his shoes!  The radio in his enormous jalopy (“The Oyster”) was not working, and apparently, that was unacceptable to me and the other restless knuckleheads in the backseat.   At some point on the journey down US 15-501, someone (possibly me) started channeling their inner Mick Jagger:

“Please…allow…me…to…introduce…myself…I’m a man of wealth and taste!”

In no time, the entire car turned into a concert setting for one of the worst renditions of  “Sympathy for the Devil” in modern history.  Off-key screeching and ill-timed “hoo hoo’s” ensued.  And as if that wasn’t enough, we somehow believed the “song” was actually playing on the (broken) radio.

“Hey man, turn this (expletive deleted) up!”

The driver tried to ignore the request, and I can only imagine what was going through his head.  Keep it steady, only two more miles until these jokers are out of my car.

But we were having NONE of it.

“C’mon, man.  We can barely hear it.  You gotta crank The Stones!”

The driver finally reached his breaking point.  He whipped around and shouted back at us.

“Are you kidding me?!  There is NOTHING to turn up.  There is no radio.  YOU GUYS are the ones singing!”

Silence.  A beat.  A few blinking eyes.  

Then we started up the chorus again (“Pleased to meet you…”) and a third request spilled out from the backseat.

“A little volume would be nice!”

Sigh.

We were positive that song was playing on the radio and nothing was going to change our minds.  The driver had a choice.  He could have gotten angry and, and frustrated and taken an aggressive approach toward convincing us otherwise. Instead, the driver finally recognized the absurdity of the situation and chose to laugh and ignore the request.

And if we want to stay positive and resilient, that might just be the best approach.

Not Everything Deserves Our Energy

It may not seem like it, but we do not have to engage in every argument presented to us. We do not have to respond to every ridiculous request asked of us.  It’s not our job to constantly prove people wrong.  Sometimes, it’s just not worth the frustration.

Do we have to break out pictures from space to prove to some people that the earth is not flat?  Is it necessary to waste energy convincing someone that Elvis did, in fact, die in 1977?  Some opinions are incredulous and we want to chime in and squash them head-on.  But slogging out an argument with people so out of touch with reality only saps our own energy and resilience.  And will do nothing to move the needle on the other side.

The bait is all around us.  And the internet and political talk shows will set the hook even deeper.  If we are not careful, it will seem everything is an outrage that we have to vigorously defend or debunk.   But do we always have to take these things so seriously? People will say it is our duty to argue every point and defend the righteous path.  But some things simply don’t deserve our energy.   Sometimes, we just have to keep both hands on the wheel and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

We Need to Stay Focused

And the same is true for the demands on our time.  Ridiculous texts in the middle of the night do not always deserve a response.  Unrealistic stipulations from an employee or colleague do not have to make our daily agenda.  We are under no obligation to give credence to every hare-brained request that comes our way.   We need to stay focused on our mission.  Our time is too valuable.

There are certain things that we have to protect and defend at all costs.  Our family.  Our friends.  Our freedoms and methods of making a living.  But we have to be aware of the distractions.  We have a finite amount of energy.  We have a finite amount of time on this earth.   We don’t need to take on every argument, conspiracy theory, or request.  Sometimes, we are better off recognizing the futility of a situation and living to fight another day.

Sometimes, we just need to turn the radio up and laugh.