Dealing WIth a Few Pet Peeves

 The complexities of being an individual do amaze me, especially when I look at myself.  I have a lot of these little things called pet peeves.  We all have them in some form or another, and they will drive the person who has them nuts.  I am going to share a few with you today that are on my "Top Ten" list.

The first one has to do with my music collection, and it automatically comes to mind because a lot of people honestly don't have a clue as to why I listen to the music I love and they tend to trivialize or sentimentalize it a lot.  For instance, there are well-meaning people - and they are generally nice people too who don't even realize that their insights on this sort of thing are like nails on a chalkboard to me - who have no idea as to what a big band is, and the only name they seem to come up with is Glenn Miller.  Now, don't get me wrong - Glenn Miller is a legend, and I have an ample amount of his material in my own collection.  However, when I mention I collect vintage big band records, I get comments like this - "Oh, I have a Glenn Miller CD in my garage."   Ummm...OK, glad you like Glenn Miller, but really??  I don't even know why that rubs me the wrong way, but it does.  Let me just give some friendly advice about that - you don't have to relate to my interest, even if it is just a casual familiarity on your part.  If I divulge to you for some reason that I like my type of music I listen too, just say something like "Oh, that's cool," and that will suffice - you don't have to suddenly recall the Glenn Miller CD you picked up at a garage sale somewhere for a quarter to impress me.  I probably wouldn't be too impressed with it anyway, as a lot of knockoff labels have reissued "In the Mood" about 25 million times over the past 30 years, so I already know that certain Glenn Miller songs are readily available.  Those CDs are not even collectable, as they are a dime a dozen.  If you want to really impress me, show me a recording with a Glenn Miller solo from the late 1920s with the Mound City Blue Blowers or Ben Pollack's orchestra - then we will talk.  That is the stuff that gets a real collector's attention, not a cheap CD you find in Walmart or Dollar General that is not even that well-made.  And, that is not just me - any serious collector of any genre of music will pretty much tell you the same thing.   Just keep that in mind if the issue of music comes up. 

Another pet peeve I have is calling people something they are not.  I have a good friend I love like a brother I never had, but he consumes televangelism like Carter consumed liver pills.  I get kind of aggravated at him when he says about a certain televangelist - let's say for argument and sanguinity Perry Stone - is a "great theologian."  The term "theologian" gets bandied about a lot, especially from hyper-charismatics, as they think anyone with an honorary degree is a "theologian."  You just don't call people theologians who display a deficiency in knowledge of key theological concepts, and you also cannot just call yourself one either - it sounds pretentious and stupid in all honesty.  As my good friend Desmond Birch (who is a real Catholic theologian) said, it's not a mantle you either take on yourself or casually call someone who doesn't have the pedigree to back it up.  Any fool can quote a Bible verse or read Dake's notes, but an actual theologian is shaped by years and years of intense study, and also must be academically recognized.  My friend has even tried to call me one at times, and I am quick to remind him that I am not a theologian - my doctorate is in History, not Theology.  I can say I am theologically informed, in that I know what I believe and can argue my position, but I would never call myself a theologian though.  People will say all sorts of stuff and call themselves anything to get attention at times, and it's a form of vanity to do so.  And, when you bestow such titles on others who didn't merit them in any way, it does a disservice to the true theologians and others who work hard to live out their vocations.  

A third and final pet peeve I will deal with today is the idea of a Karen.  We all know who these people are - they drip entitlement, and they somehow think that micromanaging everyone else's lives and sticking their big noses in other people's business is a civic duty.  In the community we live in, we have one of those unfortunately - her name is Mary, and she is an elderly Black lady who lives about two doors down from us.  She is always texting our landlord about this, that, or the other about our house, and in all honesty it gets old - the woman needs to find more hobbies to round out her day in all honesty.  In the past, we just called these people "old biddies," but the term Karen seems to fit them better.  If I am paying for my own home, and have my own life, I want to be left alone to live, and I have no time for people with no stake in my life to stick their fat noses in where they don't belong.  As I get older, I also am shorter on grace with these people, as I see them as an infection upon daily life.  Time for a nice innoculation against Karens, and mine is my own short level of patience.  

Those are just a few of my personal pet peeves.  As I said, we all have them, and some of you may even share the same ones I have.   Thanks again for allowing me to share, and I will see you next time.