Russ Kent: The less bother, the better!

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I’m at the age where my motto is: The less bother, the better.

I was thinking about that during a recent haircut.

I’d just as soon not have to mess with that mop atop my head.

I don’t own a comb. I don’t own a hair brush.

In a pinch, I could use one of the cat brushes, if I could find on, but they don’t like their hair mussed with, either.

If my hair gets long enough that it needs attention, I head over to see Buffy and the gang at GameDay Cuts in Mansfield.

The less bother, the better.

Facial hair?

Also a pain.

For four or five months, I’ve not shaved. I’ve never been able to grow a beard, which became even more bothersome this year when sports reporter Chad Clinger grew a full beard — a beard Santa Claus would be proud of — in about 24 hours.

Lately, I’m sporting a “5-o’clock shadow” look. Sadly, it takes a week or more for me to get to that 5-o’clock stage.

Anyway, with no hair to take care of and no need to shave daily, I can jump out of bed, shower, walk and feed Miss Beatrix, and be ready for work inside of 30 minutes. Twenty minutes if I skip breakfast.

The less bother, the better.

There are other aspects of my life where that motto fits.

My house is tidy, but it’s not ‘spring’ clean more than once a year, ok, once every two — or three — years.

If I can find a clean plate and spoon in the house, there’s not a real great need to do the dishes.

And if my pitbull is going to smudge — with her wet nose — every window and door in my house and truck, what’s the point of cleaning those things daily. They’re just going to get smudged again.

The less bother, the better.

Running the vacuum is the exception.

I have a dog and two cats — and if the Humane Society Serving Crawford County doesn’t keep enticing me with its Pet of the Week emails — I may end up with a second dog. Bella, bythe way, is featured in today’s Pet of the Week ad, sponsored by Horizon Animal Hospital. Someone adopt her before I do … please!

With a dog and two cats, you have to run the vacuum regularly. If you don’t run the sweeper — at least once — every five or six weeks, that fur kind of builds up.

Anyway.

A friend posed a question Tuesday on social media, which is what I was thinking about when I started writing this column 30 minutes and 15 column inches ago.

After seeing a post from someone on Facebook she really disagreed with, she wondered if it was worth the effort to get into a heated, take-no-prisoners confrontation with the author of the offending post.

My answer was “No!”

It’s impossible to win an argument on social media.

Although it is easy — and sometimes fun — to start an argument.

You can post something really controversial and then sit back and watch the “fur fly and the blood let.” I’ve done that a few (several) times on Facebook when I tire of reruns of “Law and Order” and “Big Bang Theory.”

But you’re never going to change the mind of someone on social media.

The internet has become a place for extremists.

The middle-of-the-roaders — and I put myself in that category — don’t take part in a lot of social media arguments.

Our voices can’t be heard over all the screaming and fist-pounding and name-calling coming from the extremists.

Reasoned, well-thought-out opinions don’t have a chance against ALL! THOSE! CAPITAL! LETTERS! AND! EXCLAMATION! POINTS!

It’s not worth the effort.

The less bother, the better.

Even though I know I’m right and they’re wrong, and even as intelligent as my argument would be, I’m not going to change the mind of someone with extremist views.

I’m not a confrontational person. And 99 percent of arguments are pointless.

When it comes to most arguments, whether you’re right — or wrong — doesn’t matter.

The person with the fastest finger wins.

And if the other side knows you’re right, they just disappear from the world wide web for a few hours, or days.

That’s why battles on social media — and most other places — are a waste of my time.

They should be reserved for people who enjoy arguing.

I don’t.

Facebook and Twitter squabbles are for people who enjoy conflict.

I don’t.

They are for people who are not happy unless they are making life miserable for someone else.

And that’s not me.

So, spread your misery elsewhere. I have better things to do.

The less bother, the better.

I’ve written editorials about how Galion is a pretty good place to live. I’ve written that businesses are moving to the city, so others must find this area kind of attractive, as well.

But one night at dinner — actually I hear a lot of snide comments when I go out — someone started an argument with me in the middle of a local restaurant. They kept repeating that Galion sucks! They argued that there is nothing for kids to do around here; that there are no jobs in Galion; that since all of our manufacturing facilities moved in the ’70s or shut down in the ’80s, the town has been dead.

I didn’t argue with them. I know opinions are like, well, appetites. And everyone has one.

But why ruin my dinner with our bad attitude?

It must be depressing to see only the negative in every situation.

I feel sorry for people like that.

I try to avoid them, because they have an amazing ability to suck the good life right out of others.

And I don’t need that type of negative energy in my life.

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Russ Kent

Galion Inquirer

Email Russ Kent with comments or story ideas at [email protected]

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