who cares?

Sometimes I wonder if the things I care about are worth caring about.
I’m not talking about things that are, clearly, essential: Peace (on whatever level you care to define that), justice (ditto), the fact that hitting and killing people isn’t a very productive way to live, etc. I’m talking about the more minor things. They might still be moral issues, or they might not. But – are they still things that are important to hang onto?

The two examples that come to mind are swearing, and spelling/grammar. It wears on me, you see, in my attempts to be, uh, “pure” on those fronts. It’s hard to care! It takes energy! I don’t usually have any to spare.
The swearing one is such a slippery slope, as well: When I was growing up, we couldn’t say all the biggies; not a surprise. ‘Crap,’ however, was acceptable – or at least, my parents said it. I don’t really recall if we were allowed to say it or not. ‘Butt’ was not acceptable. I probably still try to avoid it, I think. Lizzy trotted it out the other day, and I suggested a better word. So maybe I’m also not allowing it. Who knew!

I’ve added a couple other words since then – words that don’t seem that offensive in general, but perhaps are to some. But recently – whose blog was that on, anyway? Sonja’s? – some friends and acquaintances of mine had a rousing discussion about cursing. Whether it was something God likely objected to.

I bring this up because I often tire of feeling like the only person in the world who doesn’t use certain words. They wear on me when I hear them, because they cause a “yikes!” reaction in my head. What is one to do then? Decide they’re okay? But then I feel like I’m giving in somehow. Being what I don’t want to be. At what point do we decide that something’s so widespread in our culture that we just don’t care anymore? It used to be rude, but, well – now it’s just how things are? Occasionally, an older relative will say something to me like, “The world’s just a different place these days, I guess.” And I agree, but I always take it as a bit of an insult. Because I think what they mean is, “We’ve lost our moral compass,” or “we used to do things better.” Maybe I’m being too defensive. And, more likely – they’re probably right.

Okay, this started out as more of a joking-around entry, and has turned into something not so fun. So I’ll skip to the next example:

Spelling and grammar. A few people – I think they knew I was a copy editor – have said to me, “Why do we even care? If you know what I mean, who cares if I misspell something or use an apostrophe when it’s merely a plural word?” (I shudder just typing that.) I mean, yes. That is unlikely to kill anyone.

Maybe I have some German in me. I don’t know of any, but I could be wrong. When I was in Germany, one of the phrases of satisfaction they’d utter from time to time was, “Alles in Ordnung.” All is in order. Everything has a certain way to be, and we are happy and at rest if it is so. I think that’s how I feel about grammar, spelling, etc. But it sure feels like a losing battle.

(DISCLAIMER: I don’t much care, for the record, if I get an e-mail or see a blog entry with mistakes. It’s not important. But if you’re a business, and you’re making a sign, or writing something on a board for public display, etc., for pity’s sake, PLEASE do yourself the trouble of getting it right.)

I think the height of disturbing is when I see misspellings at my daughter’s day care. Signs on the wall, usually. This morning, I saw a cute display of photos of the toddler room making a “Ceasar Salad.” Awww! And then, ugh.

Or awhile back, when Lizzy’s class had a display of the various American bills on the wall. (George Washington is on the one-dollar bill; etc. I won’t continue and expose the fact that I would have to check to make sure who they actually are.) Which one is Ben Franklin on, anyway? Oddly enough, misplaced facts like these don’t trouble me so much. Just spell them right! So there goes my credibility.
But back to Ben Franklin – he was described as an American president. Ahem. The worst part was, Matt had to point out the error to me. I didn’t even notice.