Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-01
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
DON'T ARGUE
AVE YOU the arguing habit?
Copyright. 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc.

II If YOU have break yourself OF It;
l. for it is as deadly vice as the dope
habit, and just sure to ruin your happl-
ness for life, and balk you in your struggle
to succeed. Nor is the drug fiend any more
to be avoided socially than the arguing fiend.
You know the kind of people mean. They
feel that it is their especial duty to disagree
with everything that is said by anyone else,
and to oppose everything that anyone else
wants to do You can't make any statement,
however simple, without having to go 10 the
mat with them over it.
If you opine that it is pleasant day, they
find it too hot, or too cold, or too Wet or
too dry. If you praise the food at dlnner'
they find hundred faults with It, IL you
voice your admiration of a friend, tney tear
his or her character to tatters. II you lnols-
creetly mention that you are going to do
certain thing, they prophesy dire disaster.
If you say you are going to place, tney
throw million obstacles in your way.
And if you give in to these guing hounds,
as YOU often do through sheer exhaustion,
thew turn right around and take the opposite
side of the question. All they want is the
Measure of the row, and the malevoent Joy
thew get out Of irritating you, and spelling
all of your pleasure in the thing you like
For a man or woman to be afflicted with
this arguing mania is fatal nanolcap IN
business No man wishes to do usiness with
partner whom he will have to flght 10
standstill over every proposition that comes
Iup 1t takes too much strength and energy
that should be given to pushing the enter
prise. No employer wants an employee VINO
has to indulge in a gab-fest over every detall
of every order before carrying 1t out, ana
then does it under protest and with an air
that says as plainly as words Ill-do-lt-De-
cause I ye-tO-but-I-kn wit S-Wrong-and-l
| told-you-so.
No customer ever goes back the second
| time to the clerk who forces the thing sne
90 h0 G
desired, and who disputes with her over her
| taste and knowledge of the fitness or Things.
I have known plenty of capable business
men who could never get on, because Iney
argued themselves out of every oeslraple
place they got into. The finest stenograpner
I have ever known cannot make living, be-
cause she is one eternal, neVer-endlng argu-
ment with her boss and those about her, until
she gets fired, for the peace or the once.
One of the most brilliant actresses or our
day is always seeking a job, because she Is
Uncomfortable in a company. She would argue
with Shakespeare over the text of his plays.
She argues with the stage-manager over the
business, and when she gets to Heaven sne
will argue with Saint Peter about the way ne
keeps the Golden Gates
Look about you, and you Will never fino
an arguer who has made success OF lHe'
The people who preach anarchy, anu dlscon-
tent and rail at the government and society
from the tails Of carts, and from the cracker
boxes around the stoves in country stores,
are the arguers who have made failures OF
their own affairs They were so busy oppos-
ing other people, they had no time to do any
thing for themselves.
Socially, the arguer is the chief among
ter thousand bores, and we would go as lar
to avoid meeting Ole, face tC lace, as we
would a leper. One person addicted 10 us
mutation, can spoil the jolliest party for
score of other PEG Die, or turn the most care
s1,ko nir
dust For the .arguer has an uncanny IN
stinct that makes him or her go for pet en-
thusiasms tear your heroes to pieces, ana
asperse every faith that is sacred and holy
to you. 80
It is in the family circles, however, that
the arguer gets in his deadliest work. Inere
let two of these be left together, and war1are
rag es from the coming up of the sun TO the
going down thereof, and back again. NO SUD
iect is too small and insignificant to flght
over, and there is no peace, nor rest nor
happiness under, that roof.
Such husbands and wives soon come 10
hate each other Their children have no re-
snect for them, because, in the heat or the
argument they have heard each make nor
ribIe accusations against the other, ana they
themselves become little guerr1llas VINO 1lght
first on one side and then on the other, when
thew are not battling among themselves
Won want a recipe for making marriage a
failure lust argue It's all that is necessary:
And to what end is the argument? DID
Won ever know of anybody who was convinced
nv an argument, or who changed his or ner
noint of view because of one? Never. me
only result of an argument is to bore every
listener stiff and to leave every one thinking
Of the arguer with bitter taste in his or
her mouth
Nobody loves an arguer. The people we
like. and whose society we enjoy, are those
who are congenia1 with us, who like the same
things we like and hold the same views tnat
we hold.
And what egotism it is to try to force our
ideas and ideals on others! How can We
he so sure that the mantle of Solomon mas
fallen upon our shoulders, and that we are
wiser than our fellow-creatures? How can
we presume to know that our way IS oetter
than their way?
And even if we do know better, Wnat rien;
have we to deprive another of his lnd1Vlduai
freedom to live his own life in his own way
and have, and do, the thing he DESIRES WILL
out being badgered about them! =.
The moral of all of which is, tnaG IL 80
the part of policy, of good sense or klnull-
ness and fair play, never to argue, ana "nen
we do not agree with others, to keep our
oninions to ourselves, unless they are asked
for OF course to ask the arguer to deny
himself the pleasure of hearing his own VOICE.
is to ask him to make an heroic sacrltlce'
but it pays ,,.,
The most important thing that aSy human
being ever learns, is when t. quit talking