TYFA post 1 Gordon

One of the readings from Thank You For Arguing that stuck with me the most was in chapter 2.  The concept of an argument vs. a fight was being discussed.  I never realized that there was even a difference between the two.  In a argument one succeeds when they persuade the audience.  In a fight one person takes out their aggression on another person.  These two concepts really made sense for me when I applied it to my own life.  I tried to think of a time when I was in a fight and another when I was in an argument; I then realized that not two long ago I was in both with my mother.  It was new years eve and I have had plans for weeks to hang out with my friends and go to a dinner and a party after, my parents approved of my plans and I was extremely excited.  The day of there was a terrible snow storm and my parents did not want me driving around and said I could not attend the plans with my friends.  I started an argument with my mom trying to persuade her to let me go, I used logos explaining how safe the car is and my driving capability, she was not going to budge though.  As I got more and more angry the argument turned into a fight.  I began to take all my anger out on my mom and in the end solved nothing.  I learned that if I would have stuck to my argument and not turned it into a fight, I would have been much more likely to be able to attend my plans.