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ONE LETTER CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
I'm know I'm not the only person who ever made a typo. Most of the time, it's not a problem - it's clear from the context what was meant. I can't say that is always the case. Early in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, any number of professional news commentators said "Osama" instead of "Obama" and at least most of them had the good grace to be embarrassed and to apologize on air. Recently a speaker of my acquaintance made the same mistake talking to a business group - big oops! Just two weeks ago in the cover letter for the Monday Minute, I said our Crazy Quilt Conference was coming up in one "week" instead of one "month." Ooops. I got several panicked emails from people who had plane tickets for a month later. Someone once said "life is in the details." They were right. So much of life is in the details. If we remember to stop and actually look at our children when we talk to them, they understand they are the number one focus of our attention, even if it is only for a few minutes. If we learn to smile when we are talking on the telephone, it will make people think we really care about them and are interested in what they have to say when they can't see our faces. Sending a thank you for something nice someone did for you today can make another person's day when they receive it. If you've been wondering why you haven't heard from an old friend recently, why not be the one to pick up the phone and renew the contact? Sometimes the details are really tiny details - putting a new button on a favorite shirt so you can wear it again. Or throwing out the restaurant leftovers from last Saturday. Mostly life is the details. I tend to be a "big picture" kind of person, and details are not my strong point. I've always felt I need a "keeper" who would remember where I put the car keys and make sure we never run out of toilet paper. I'm sure if someone took care of all the details, I'd feel a loss of independence and lack of options to make my own decisions, and I would probably start writing about that instead. But right now I kind of wish I had someone to watch my back and make sure all the details were covered - especially those pesky typos. I'm managing a ballroom dance festival on July 4th weekend and wrote out the menus for the hotel. They gave me the final orders to approve and they all looked great, except to cap off the final banquet, the chef was planning to serve white chocolate and raspberry mouse! When I told him I really didn't want to see a tail coming out of my dessert dish, he said he could add ears as well if that would help. So the banquet manager wrote in the correction, so that we would now be having white chocolate raspberry moose!! I wonder if Rocky the Squirrel will be on the buffet table. Life is in the details. This is Nancy Kirk with your Monday Minute. |
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