COMMUNICATE!

I thought about using an expletive after the headline, but in the interest of not scaring away the squeemish, I decided against it. Now, the only reason I even mention that I wanted to, is that I believe it to be the most important thing you’ll ever do.

My oldest brother went off to college when I was eight years old. He was an English major. When he came home on weekends, he would tickle me until I couldn’t breathe, then look me square in the eye and quote one of his professors. "God gives you one ability", he’d say. "That is the ability to communicate. You will do so with clarity, with diction and with correct grammar". It turns out to be the best gift I probably ever received.

Right or wrong, you’re judged on that ability for the rest of your life. I don’t care how smart a person is, if you haven’t mastered the language, you’re doomed to having people think you’re maybe capable of being a Walmart greeter and little else. You know what I’m talking about here. We all have a member of the family that we dearly love, maybe someone you work with, who, without warning will blurt out something like, "I wish you coulda came yesterday so we coulda went skiing".

I’m guessing it was my brother’s influence that just makes my head want to explode when I hear something like that. Now, please don’t think I’ve become some sort of language nazi here. I still love and respect a lot of people that don’t have the best communication skills, but you know and I know that they’s just not livin’ up to their pertential. (Yes, I did that on purpose.)
So, make today the day you begin your path to the presidency. Oh, wait, apparently you don’t need a mastery of the language for that one. Okay, make today the day you begin your path to being a better communicator than the president. (Maybe I should set the bar a little higher?)

Thanks for reading, have a little fun today and we’ll leave the mic on for ya.