To Whom It May Concern

It has come to my attention that a few people were seriously offended by my previous blog. While my intention was never to hurt anyone, nor to attack or "call out" someone personally, I must say this.

When I write, I do it for my sake. I have never written anything with malicious intent. I consider my writings to be equal to that of a newspaper column (though not on par, as far as talent goes). What I write is my opinion, and only that. An opinion. To be completely fair, one could take offense to anything written by any person. Whether or not it is beneficial to become so upset by something is another issue. The problem I was addressing was not electronic invitations, but rather how they are enabling our society to continue to completely disregard their fellow man. I will not apologize for this, and will continue to instead attempt to call attention to this fact. What I wrote was not wrong; it is unfortunate that what I said was misinterpreted.

To those whom I have offended - if you even read this (or if things can again spread through the rumor mill to you) - I hope you know that I am sorry that what I wrote affected you so, and that it was never my intent to hurt you. In fact, you did not even cross my mind when last I ranted. I wish that you could have the courtesy to have come to me and told me yourself that what I said had upset you or at least responded to the apology written to you. I think that things would have been resolved differently. It saddens me to think that something so trivial could end a friendship.

Welcome To The Wonderful World Of Evites or "How My Generation Seems To Have Lost The Ability To Respect Anyone But Themselves"

I am ashamed to say that I belong to a generation of completely self-absorbed slackers. It used to be that when an event was going to take place, the host would send out invitations in the mail. Not email. Via the postman (remember him?). When one received said invitation, one was obliged to respond "si vous plait" (didn't even know that's what RSVP stood for, did you?), yes or no. "Maybe" was not an option. If one was not completely sure that they could attend the event, they would inform the host of the possible conflict.

Now, I welcome you to today's world of online invitations. Response optional. If you're unsure you want to attend you can choose maybe. Maybe is a magical option that allows the invitee to make absolutely no commitment whatsoever! Maybe enables you to say you're not sure that you'll be attending the event because you're waiting to see if you will be offered a more enticing option for that date. And do not try to deny that you've done that; I've actually heard some admit it.

But wait, the hosts are not excluded from my soapbox. Oh, no! They, too, are enabled and allowed to be completely slovenly and tacky. Why go to the enormous effort of tracking down all of those addresses? Why add the stress of using a pen and stamps? Why exert yourself when you're already going to all the trouble of allowing people into your home? I was appalled, thoroughly and absolutely taken aback, this year when I received a wedding invitation via Facebook! And this, mind you, was after I received an electronic invitation to help the bride-to-be make the physical invitations! What on earth have we come to? I understand that wedding invitations can be expensive - don't think that I'm oblivious. Also do not think I'm disapproving of the request that friends help make the invitations; it's a large undertaking, I know. I am stunned that someone would actually use something as cheap and impersonal as an electronic invitation for one of the biggest days of their lives, and disgusted that people actually responded with a "maybe"!

I am astonished by the absolute lack of respect for others. Are my peers really so completely selfish, so totally absorbed in their own lives that they cannot make a commitment and hold to it for someone else? Yes, I occasionally use electronic invitations. I use Facebook and Evites to try to gather friends together for events. But it saddens me to know that I cannot, nor can anyone else, rely upon these at all - because the majority of the people who will receive them will not give what should be the common courtesy of a serious commitment. And do not think that this issue stops with Evites. This absence of respect shows itself in the failed commitments to call, falling through on appointments (be they lunch dates with a friend or prioritizing everything before time for our Creator - that means that He deliberately made you with the purpose of glorifying Him, by the way), and so much more. So. Here are the options we have: We either grow the heck up and act like the adults we claim to be or we stop relying at all upon electronic invites. Personally, I hope to see more people giving an actual commitment and showing the lost art of respect for the person going to the effort of hosting an event. I hope to stop seeing so many God-awful Evites. I hope you know that if you ever send me an invitation via anything but "snail" mail for a graduation, baby shower or wedding that I will not be there. I hope that this might be at least a small step towards stepping outside of ourselves and realizing that there is more to this world than just us.