Not for the Faint-Hearted

The downside of messing up while attempting to communicate is that others become immediately aware of your goof. While we all understand and readily accept the fact none of us are perfect and that we make mistakes, the other part of that reality is that when one among us does misstep, it is not uncommon for that imperfect soul to be mocked and attacked for their mistake. (What does that say about our nature, by the way? We know we all misstep yet often show little mercy when it comes to pointing out and judging others when they stumble either verbally or in-writing.) In this regard, communication can be a nasty business.

An incident made the Internet recently where an engaged couple sent out wedding invitations that contained several glaring and, yes, careless errors. Instead of saying "You are invited....." they wrote "Your invited.......")  Also, they misspelled the word "ceremony." The reaction from those receiving the wedding invitation was pretty grim. According to the news, comments ranged from mocking to outright attacks. And this from family and friends! Granted, the errors should not have been made as obviously the copy on the invitation was either not carefully reviewed or whoever did the proof-reading is a very poor speller. Still, those on the invite-list sure seemed to be a tough crowd.

It is incidents like that that illustrate why many folks are hesitant to speak in-public or shy away from sharing their thoughts in-writing with others. Many purposely confine their communicating to quick texts or tweets or casual, informal comments - formats where little importance is placed upon grammatical and spelling accuracy. To communicate in a formal context is to place one's self in a position of vulnerability. Putting forth a coherent and understandable message is enough of a challenge all by itself. But to communicate an error-free message raises the anti big-time. As has been said before, effective communication is not for the faint-hearted.