My grandfather, Brig. Gen. J. B. Sweet, had the Persian Gulf Command during World War II, supplying arms to the Russians. One time his Russian counterpart hosted a banquet for Grandpa and the other American officers. During the dinner he offered a toast with his glass of vodka. Grandpa, a teetotaler, raised his empty glass out of courtesy and then put it back on the table, upside down. The Russian went ballistic. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted, “In my house, everybody drinks!” Grandpa, the gentlest man I’ve ever known, slammed his fist on the table and shouted, “In my house, nobody drinks!”
End of crisis.
“Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” Proverbs 26:5
“The concern [in Proverbs 26:5] seems to be for those who observe the fool who believes, because of a lack of response from the wise man, that he has overcome him. As he struts about in his arrogance, others will be prone to follow him without discernment. For this reason, in some cases, it is right to ‘answer a fool as his folly deserves.'”
John A. Kitchen, Proverbs (Fearn, 2006), page 586.
