When is doing nothing better?

Last week I went out armed with weed killer to rid our drive of weeds. I got them all, went inside and was met by Helen who told me what I had sprayed was Bug killer not Weed killer. Instead of winning the war over the weeds I had helped them to be bug free!

Sometimes it's better to do nothing because doing something makes the situation worse.

In 1955, African-American, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person in a country where segregation due to skin colour was normal. Martin Luther King suggested to the African-American residents that they stop using public transport. They did and being the bulk of the city's paying customers it ground the transport system to a halt and in 1956 segregation on transport was brought to an end.


Doing nothing can have dramatic results.

What about on a smaller scale? How would inaction work? For me it would mean biting my tongue rather than arguing with my wife over stupid things. Maybe with friends it would be showing empathy rather than being too quick to give advice. In the work place maybe it would be showing love to the difficult manager rather than speaking against them? Maybe inaction could radically change some areas of our lives.

We all know that being active is important. To speak out, to do good things and to work hard. But when faced with a challenging situation will remaining silent, will stopping, will removing ourselves from the situation be a more effective way of responding?

Have a look at a few things King Solomon (Old Testament Bible) suggests may be effective:

• Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.(Proverbs 17:28)
• Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop before a dispute breaks out. (Proverbs 17:14)
• Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others. (Proverbs 12:15)