Today, someone asked me about a grammatical rule.  It was actually, the most commonly made grammatical error in English.  It’s the old …. ITS rules…..  whether or not an apostrophe is needed in a particular sentence.

But before I answered, I said… “Well, it’s the strangest thing.”

What a thing to say!   Of course it ISN’T the strangest thing.  The strangest thing might be Bigfoot, or Aliens in corn crops making freakish designs.   Or maybe even Chris Fultengocker, who was in my third grade class.   That kid was really weird.  Perhaps we think snails are strange.  Or ghosts.

But there is not a Law of the Land in this matter.  When it comes down to it, we all have different versions of what we consider “strange” or “normal.”  Some people think that being Gay is strange.  Other people find that the practice of Fundamental Christianity is weird.  And still others think Sara Palin, Matthew McConaughey, or The Beetles are peculiar and strange.   Like I said, there is not a single answer.

Yet.   How we respond to what seems “strange” to us is an entirely different matter.  Just because we think playing Cribbage is cool, others may find it completely odd.   How we behave towards others, who believe differently than us…… is paramount.

It is called a lot of things.  The “go-to” phrase is “Accepting Diversity.”  I call it being human.  I don’t know anyone who is smart enough to know everything about everything.  That would be like having a god among us.

No.  We are all humans.  Each of us has our high and low points….. our gifts and our faults.  With that being said….  I am not sure it is right to hold judgement on others.

Embrace the strange?  Hug the Yeti?  Not if you don’t want to.  But I think we should, at the very least, offer respect and understanding toward others.  I think in most cases…. that is how we expect others to treat us.

Yes, I think that displaying compassion, understanding, and deference toward our fellow humans is the best thing we can do.

Anything else….. would be…..just……  strange.

Or as the profound statement is going these days … ….  “Be Together.  Not Alike.”