Friday, March 15, 2013

Attention to the Details

I'm a bug on attention to detail.  Whether it's in my reviews of places we stay--I take note of pesky little details like broken tiles in the bathrooms, bulbs not working in lamps and the like--or my grammar-Nazi tendencies in writing and reading--or my insistence on checking the fact for sources of information, the details matter.  I try to correct problems when I find them: I bring problems to hotel staff's attention, strive to get my own work right before I pick on that of others (with some epic failures along the way), and really try to be sure that my facts are truly facts.
The fact-checking is much easier now with the internet--of course, you have to have a credible reference for your source of facts.  We know that sources can lean left or right and must be aware of those biases as we do our searching; but we usually can filter out the truth from fiction.
Some places there are absolutes, however in sorting out the details.  Recently I was browsing the used books in a used goods store run by a large and well-respected Christian denomination.  I like to think that I could trust them in their attention to detail, but found out otherwise.  Among their devotional books I found a small booklet that I recognized as having been printed and distributed by a group that is not from within orthodox Christianity.  As a matter of fact, most of us within orthodoxy would call it a cult with no hesitation at all!  Seems like nobody there was paying attention to detail when they put that book on the shelf.
Interestingly, a volunteer in the book department didn't seem concerned about it, so I took it up with a staff member who removed it.  It seems that she was concerned about the details.

If anyone is curious about the who, what, and where of this, I'd happily tell you in a private message; but it is not my intent to name either group in this blog.

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