A fire you can’t put out is a fire you shouldn’t start. Scouts learn that one early.

Scouts are taught to build the fire only once the ring and the bucket are ready, because the real question is never whether it lights. It is whether you can stop it. The same rule covers rumours, pranks, group chats and arguments: starting something costs almost nothing and ending it costs a great deal. You want an honest answer about who puts it out.

Before you kick something off, say out loud how it ends and who ends it. If the answer is nobody, or it probably burns out, leave it unlit. That includes the reply you are composing right now.