He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears (Proverbs 26:17).
If, when those around you are talking negatively about something or someone, you chip in with your negative contribution, you are taking a strange dog by the ears – so look out! If you get emotionally entangled in what is not your affair, through indignation, self-righteousness, hatred, or otherwise, you have seized the dog again – and he will bite. And even to think negatively concerning such matters in the secret chamber of your own heart, will bring you proportionate and natural punishment.
It is always right to think rightly about any person or situation, and if you do this many opportunities will come to you to help people practically, without any breach of law, and without coming near the dangerous dog.
Just think how much better all our lives would be if we only added positive contributions to strife-filled situations. Then we would be reducing strife and increasing harmony. When folks are talking bad about someone in a situation not concerning us, we could remain silent rather than joining in. This would keep us away from “the dog”.
Or even better, we could raise our voice for tolerance, forgiveness or understanding. Such actions would then create the possibility for the conversation to take a better direction. If the parties reject that counsel, we may not get invited to participate in such conversations in the future. That would be okay also, because we still would not be grabbing someone else’s dangerous dog by the ears.
Petting the dog,
Z gardener
Good Morning Garden 
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