Gossip, Cheap, Small Talk

So lately, there’s a trend going on. I’m at that stage in my life when all my friends and colleagues are getting married, making babies and starting families. So, as you can imagine, there are several texts back and forth inviting me to weddings and engagements. I get at least 3 a month. It’s all well and good. But then I have problem. Yea, I always do. Even if there's no problem, I'll create one and have a fit over it.

See, over the past 3 or so years, I’ve received hundreds of SMSs inviting me to weddings and engagements and so on. It’s a quick and simple way of sending out information. All you have to do is to squeeze all you want to say into 160 characters (punctuation included). You can use every form of shorthand and cyber lingo to do it. No one will complain. Well...no one except me, of course.

 

[caption id="attachment_116" align="aligncenter" width="474" caption="texting texting texting"][/caption]

 

 

Allow me to say this emphatically once and for all: I do not and will not attend weddings or any other events based on texts. If you can't afford to spare more than 160 characters on a message as important as that, then maybe I shouldn't bother myself with looking for a suitably coloured dress, in some cases, even order a dress, make myself up, perhaps buy you a gift and drive several miles from my house only on the whim of a text. I won't do even do it for my best friend. And in any case, none of my best friends are cheap...well...some are. They are way too enlightened for that. It's not about being old fashioned, it's about doing it right. You wouldn't send the president of any country an SMS as an invite to an event. You would probably send him an official invite and then you can follow up with an SMS or a call.

 

[caption id="attachment_118" align="aligncenter" width="290" caption="An example of a proper Wedding Invite"][/caption]

 

 

That is the kind of respect I would like young people of today to exercise. The cyber world is great and all, but it can certainly not be used to trivialize important events like weddings, christenings or naming ceremonies. Notification by emails are acceptable, but texts, you can't possibly be serious.

 

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According to my theory, SMSs are for gossip and small talk and they are above all, cheap! Therefore if you consider your wedding/engagement gossip material or that which makes small talk worthwhile, then consider me officially uninvited to your event. And by all standards I don’t attend cheap events. It’s bad for my image.

I don’t mind if you send the SMS days prior to the event as a reminder or perhaps an email blast to all your friends reminding them of your special event. But to send me an SMS as the first point of call is totally sub-standard for me. So here and now, I apologize to anyone whose wedding or engagement I’ve not attended. If you invited me via SMS now you understand why. If not, then maybe, I just don't like you. There are some that I was unable to attend for very genuine reasons. Truth hurts, but it has to be told.

If you can’t send out proper invitations, then at least you can manage a phone call. But simply sending invitational SMSs fall way below the credibility line and I will not, I repeat, I will not make anything of it.

That’s all. I had to say it and I did. So sue me!