"Trip, Stumble, Fall"

Have you ever been out for a leisurely walk, not really watching where you were going, when all of a sudden you trip on a crack in the sidewalk?  It can be very disruptive, interrupting your thoughts and even making you a little self-conscious.  But you keep walking and soon you forget about it.  Then, when you've gotten back into your "groove", a bigger crack causes you to stumble!  Arrgghh!  Now, you're getting upset.  Why can't somebody fix this?  The city, or the owner, or whoever is in charge....somebody ought to take the time to repair this!  Hmppff!  You become a little more aware of where you are stepping, looking ahead to prepare for the next obstacle....a hole, a rock, an incline....something that might actually cause you to fall!  And there it is, you can see it just ahead.  That's it!  That's enough!  You turn around and go home.

Well, your nice peaceful, leisurely walk has been ruined.  Just walking was no longer possible.  You had to concentrate on your steps not your journey.  The pleasure was gone when you had to worry if you would "Trip, Stumble, Fall".

Lately I have been reading a lot of random blogs, just perusing, thinking about all the different things people care about, enjoying the colors, the photos, the humor, the creativity, the stories, and the insights.  I sign up for the ones I really enjoy and look forward to their next posting.  It's fun and I love doing it.

Of course, I don't love absolutely every blog I come across.  Some just don't appeal to me at all and that's OK.  You don't have to like everything in life.  However, every so often, I'll come across one that's really interesting, or funny, or touching, or something and I will spend a goodly amount of time wandering back through their posts and getting to know the author.  I enjoy the journey some folks take me on.

Until, suddenly, unexpectedly, I trip!

"Oops, what happened?" 

"Their not my problem."*

 I look back over the last sentence I read (above) and realize it is the wrong tense, or the wrong word, or its misspelled, or something.  Well, we all make mistakes occasionally, right?  I keep reading.  Just when I'm getting back into the "groove", I stumble!  "Whoa!  What was that?" 

"We ate at a new restrant last night.  It was a pretty nice restrant."

A spelling misstep, worse this time, jumps out at me, and for good measure, it is repeated in the next sentence!!  "Hmmm, that's annoying.  Don't all writers check their work before they publish it?"  Well, evidently not!

Okay, I'm still enjoying the content mostly, so I go back and keep reading, but I'm wary, sort of scanning ahead, waiting to find the next obstacle.  "Aha!  And there it is!" 

"I've went to this pityful camp three times now."

That stops me cold.  Nooo, it doesn't really say that, right?  Wrong!  I've read it three times now.  That's what it says!  I'm hoping it isn't ignorance, that its just laziness.  In general, the blog (which shall remain nameless!) is interesting, kind of cute, and doesn't seem like the writer is a bit dim-witted.  But, Oh Howdy, I just can't take any more.  I have tripped.  I have stumbled.  And I have fallen.  I am gone!

This one was the worst I've ever seen, but there have been others.  Many writers don't seem to even try to proofread their work.  When I'm writing, I do thoughtless things too, but I try to catch them and correct them before I publish.  I'm not always 100% successful, but I try.

If a writer can't take the time and make the effort to fix their mistakes, I can't take the time or make the effort to read what they write!  It's as simple as that.

"Trip, Stumble, Fall"??  No thanks.  Not interested.  Bye!


*I swear I did NOT make these up!  They are real mistakes from a real blog (which shall remain nameless, for obvious reasons!!)