My first instinct is to deny that I have any obsessions. I am not subject to the sorts of deranged behaviours retailed daily on any of the bizarre daytime television shows that vie for our attention at the laundromat. I am not prone to schizophrenia, paranoia or any of the many phobias that enliven society from time to time. I do not attack strangers at the mall or urinate on the sidewalk. I am a sober and sensible person.
But then I thought what is obsession but a deeply held conviction that is foolish or wrong. As it happens I have great numbers of deeply held convictions. Of course they are sober and sensible convictions and therefore cannot be considered obsessions in stark contrast to other people's deeply held convictions which are pure nonsense at best if not credible evidence of mental disorder.
For example, consider my heartfelt concern for the indignities imposed upon the poor Engish language, battered and bruised by the oblivious abuses of the negligent many. How many innocent infinitives are split on an average day? Tears blind me when I hear something like “I've got to sometimes worm the cat.” Good heavens, don't they hear themselves?
And then there is the gradual drift of perfectly good words with a purpose in life away from their actual meaning to something less. Like “gay” which once meant happy and joyful and now only means homosexual. Or “awesome” which once implied something extraordinary and has now been diminished to bland approval. Like “cool” which has inexplicably retained its original meaning while also conveying bland approval.
However, it is noteworthy that these linguistic offenses are a reasonable target for concern and certainly not an obsession. Much as I would like to deliver the offenders a mighty slap, I refrain. I suffer silently. I forgive them.
Now compare this with the crazy people who obsess over nonsense like shoes or bacteria or Republicans. This is a whole different world of excess. However, these are harmless excesses. Nobody will suffer if you spend all your free time searching online for 17th century buttons or scrubbing your house with Lysol. The ones you need to watch out for are the ones whose practitioners are unshakably convinced that they are not only right but also obligated to thrust their flavor of reality on everybody else. These are the missionaries who have caused more pain, misery, and death than any other single agent.
And this is why it is so important to keep your deeply held convictions to yourself, especially if you know you are right.
But then I thought what is obsession but a deeply held conviction that is foolish or wrong. As it happens I have great numbers of deeply held convictions. Of course they are sober and sensible convictions and therefore cannot be considered obsessions in stark contrast to other people's deeply held convictions which are pure nonsense at best if not credible evidence of mental disorder.
For example, consider my heartfelt concern for the indignities imposed upon the poor Engish language, battered and bruised by the oblivious abuses of the negligent many. How many innocent infinitives are split on an average day? Tears blind me when I hear something like “I've got to sometimes worm the cat.” Good heavens, don't they hear themselves?
And then there is the gradual drift of perfectly good words with a purpose in life away from their actual meaning to something less. Like “gay” which once meant happy and joyful and now only means homosexual. Or “awesome” which once implied something extraordinary and has now been diminished to bland approval. Like “cool” which has inexplicably retained its original meaning while also conveying bland approval.
However, it is noteworthy that these linguistic offenses are a reasonable target for concern and certainly not an obsession. Much as I would like to deliver the offenders a mighty slap, I refrain. I suffer silently. I forgive them.
Now compare this with the crazy people who obsess over nonsense like shoes or bacteria or Republicans. This is a whole different world of excess. However, these are harmless excesses. Nobody will suffer if you spend all your free time searching online for 17th century buttons or scrubbing your house with Lysol. The ones you need to watch out for are the ones whose practitioners are unshakably convinced that they are not only right but also obligated to thrust their flavor of reality on everybody else. These are the missionaries who have caused more pain, misery, and death than any other single agent.
And this is why it is so important to keep your deeply held convictions to yourself, especially if you know you are right.
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