PC?

Hey guys!

How was your Christmas? 

You know how, when you grow up with one thing, it’s hard to conceptualize something different? Like, I grew up with Christmas, just Christmas, so I sometimes have difficulty even remembering that other holidays exist, or that some people would choose not to celebrate Christmas. I don’t mean that in an ignorant way. No, I know there are other holidays, and I know that other people celebrate them, but I don’t celebrate them, so sometimes they don't occur to my slightly childlike mind. I don’t have a need to remember on them, to focus on them. For instance, I’m not Jewish, so I don’t celebrate Hanukah. I think it would be presumptuous of me if I did, because, again, I’m not Jewish. But if you’re Jewish, I will wish you a happy Hanukah (if I know you celebrate it, anyway). But then, why would you wish me one, if you know I don’t celebrate it? Wouldn't that be silly?

I’ve gotten off on a topic I didn’t intend. 

I don’t like political correctness. I don’t. I don’t think we should all be careful what we say, so that we don’t offend anyone. I think that we should all grow a spine and get used to the fact that if you live in the real world, surrounded by real people who have very different beliefs from your own, you’re probably going to hear something that offends you, every so often. In fact, you’re probably going to say something that offends someone, without even knowing that it’s offensive.

It’s a product of the different ways we were raised, and there’s really no way around it. We all just need to get used to it. And while, yes, we should be cautious so as not to outright state something with the intention of offending others, we should also be aware of the fact that parts of our lives will be offensive to others—and that parts of their lives are offensive to us. Deal with it. Nothing you can do about it. I celebrate Christmas, as a Christian. That's offensive to some people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change the way I celebrate, or stop telling people to have a Merry Christmas.

This wasn’t what I wanted to talk about today. Actually, I was going to talk about my first Christmas without my grandmother. Then I started typing, and all this came out. But I really think that this is something we all need to hear, and it’s something that pertains to our writing as well.

Don’t be so cautious in your writing that you’re afraid of offending one of your readers. I can nearly guarantee you that I’ve offended people with some of the things that I’ve posted online, some of the things I’ve written in my books. In many ways, my beliefs are quite clear based on the themes of my writing. In others, my beliefs couldn’t be farther from the things I write. That’s what we need to be okay with.

Your writing is a reflection of you, yes, but it is not you. It doesn’t have to conform to everything you believe in, it doesn’t have to be politically correct, it doesn’t have to bend to the rules of society. In fact, it probably shouldn’t do any of those things—a lot of the time, that’s what makes writing better.

Don’t follow the rules. Don’t do what society says you should do. Those are the books that stand out in a crowd, the stories that people don’t forget about.

And I think that’s a great note to leave off on, as we approach the end of the year.

(don’t worry, I still have one more post coming up before the year ends)

[love]

{Rani D.}