I seldom rant. I don’t like ranting. It seems somehow boorish and annoying. When I do rant it has to be for a good cause. So forewarned here’s my 50 second rant!
I’ve recently encountered some people who feel that when it comes to a life story of a loved one, the final product needn’t look attractive. “I’ll just take the pages down to Kinko, have them copied and stapled together. That’s good enough. People will just toss them in a drawer anyway.” Someone else told me, “I’ll just get a friend to make copies of these DVDs. No need to worry about labeling or boxing them.”
Why is it that people will spend days pouring over the renovation design for their kitchen and yet give hardly a thought to what a legacy book or video will look like? Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications theorist said, “The medium is the message.” He was absolutely right. If we give people a book or video that looks like crap, then that’s how people will perceive the contents.
Surely, we owe the ones we love the honor of presenting as beautiful a memoir as we can provide. It should be an heirloom that will be cherished and handed down from generation to generation.
That’s it. That’s my rant. I feel better now.
Illustration by Gabriel
Rants are good for the soul! I have them all the time but usually within the confines of my own home. It cuts down the annoyance factor that way.
And, by the way, I agree with you about presentation. One does indeed tend to judge a book by its cover.
@prissyperfection. Thanks for dropping by and your comments. Here’s to the occasional rant!
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