Neither you or I can afford to be a companion of fools. This truth ought to be self-evident. Before I tell you why it isn’t obvious, I’ll tell you why they hurt.

CONSEQUENCES
Direct or indirect, the actions of a fool will boomerang you all kinds of pain. Once I was at the beach with a new friend. I picked up a huge rock with two hands and planned on scaring him with a big splash. Intending to get close, I actually hit him in the chest. The story is only funny because I didn’t cave in some of his ribs. When the expression of foolishness moves from thrown mini-boulders to ideas and decisions, the story is no longer funny.

When roaming with a pack of fools, you’ll be guilty by association. If someone is going to retaliate upon a fool, they will follow up on the whole pack. They will not stop to carefully evaluate each pack member for their individual merits. In a pack, the fool might not hurt you, but he will hurt someone who will return and hurt the whole pack. BEWARE THE HARM

CONFUSION
Spending time with fools will lead to lots of questions: why? how come? really? are you kidding me? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Attempts to evaluate the actions and the thoughts of fools is like counting the sides of a möbius strip. Getting lost in the wasteland devoid of logic and reason will lead to endless circles and eternal cycles without resolution. It is here that true frustration finds a face. BEWARE THE HARM.

MINDSHIFT
Here’s the worst harm that comes from companioning with fools: you begin to think like them. Iron sharpens iron, right? So what effect does a lumpy rock have? Exactly. Spending time with fools will rub off. TRUE! Make no mistake. In a tennis match between a master and a novice, the better player is lessened far more than the weaker is improved. Humanity is tragically subjective, and groupTHINK is alive and well. BEWARE THE HARM.

HOW DOES IT COME TO THIS?
It all starts with two little words:“NOT ME. I will befriend the fools and fill lots of my time with lots of them, and nothing will happen to me! I won’t let their self-destruction stick to me! I can figure out How They Tick and give them the answers they need! I won’t change because I am above, I have over come, I am better and I am BEYOND!”

(I’m not saying we ought not be friends with fools . . . this isn’t even possible for lots of reasons… but when we become a companion to fools…)

It starts with a desire to help the foolish, but we stay for a darker reason. We try to help, but we get hurt. REPEAT. Instead of pulling out, EGO: I’m wiser than all of them. . . the pain hurts, but the pride feels pretty good. Pain is acceptable when it props up EGO.

CONFESSION:
I don’t want to feel superior, I want to actually become better. Not better than others, but better than I was… EVEN when (not if) I have to be humbled by those wiser than me.

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.