Freak of control

April 29, 2008

What is it about some people that makes them have to be in control of everything around them? I recently ran into a person like this in the mirror and it made me wonder if I’ve been like that all my life or if I’ve gotten progressively more ‘Monk’-ish as I’ve gotten older.

It’s gotten so bad at times that I wish I had a remote control for the people and events around me.

And it’s sometimes not even a control thing. OK, it IS a control thing, but it’s combined with an attitude.

Recently I saw what I thought was a typo on a blog. I wrote a quick note to the author and pointed out the typo and explained that the reason for my email was because I was worried about the eventual embarrassment that could occur if others saw and recognized the typo.

When the author responded to my note with slight ambivalence (actually the perfect amount of ambivalence that the issue deserved), I felt all hoity-toity and almost dashed off another email explaining the cultural and cosmic significance of correct grammar/spelling.

You don’t realize how close I came to sending that second email. But let me assure you that if I sent it I would have been doing myself a disservice by angering someone who writes about fun stuff all the time, is more carefree (at least as far as I can tell from afar) than I’ve ever been, and is definitely a smartie.

If I took a quick look back in that mirror for a second I’d see someone who has shared his share of typos with the world and has no place berating or correcting others. I’ll leave that up to these guys and these great people and even these nice folks.

For now, I’ll just take my Monk baseball cap and sit quietly. And while I peck at the keys in my quest to finish a novel before the summer, I’ll not think of how I can fix people and their words.

I’ll just think about how great things are already.

More to come…