Now THAT'S perfect!
Is it a considered a compulsion if you feel that not contributing to your weblog for even one day will jinx the whole exercise, and next thing you know 6 months will have gone by and you’ll have dropped the ball?
I’ll admit to having some compulsive tendencies which have dominated my life in different periods. The thing of it is, a compulsion that is a problem in one situation can be a strength in another. I am a church music director and liturgist. Both of those professions go hand in hand with OCD tendencies – anal retentiveness can be a plus! On the positive side it is called “attention to detail” or “highly organized”, terms frequently seen in job advertisements in my line of work, where perfectionism in minutiae can be a prized virtue.
What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? Answer: you can negotiate with a terrorist! If I had a dollar for every liturgy seminar I attended where I had to listen that . . . anyway, it’s true of many of us.
I used to fit that mold a lot more closely. When I was younger and straight out of liturgy training I was so full of rules and justifications and the overwhelming need to control everything (and everyone) in the name of liturgical correctness. Somehow, that’s not the case any more. I don’t mean I ignore the rules or my instinct for liturgical propriety, it’s just I’ve had to learn to temper that zeal in view of real life, within reason of course! I need to stay employed!
My moment of realization when the sickness of my own perfectionism became clear to me was on the day I had just printed out 200 copies of a letter and found three small blemishes from the photocopier surface, no bigger than the size of a period on this page. I just caught myself short of dumping the lot in the recycling bin and reprinting them.
I’m a perfectly recovering perfectionist now!
But if you want to know the reality of THAT . . . ask my wife!
Hi Feargal,
We were in your native Tuam two weeks ago on our way to Co. Mayo. Finally got to see St. Jarlath’s! A busy place was Tuam. I think your piece about the liturgy and ‘rules’ is very good, and true.
We are amazed as we travel around Ireland how some churches never removed the altar railings, in line with Vatican 11. There seems to be diffferent interpretations of ‘the rules’.However, I have to say I much rather the older churches, there is a feeling of being somewhere sacred..somewhere different than the local mall. Bishop Magee in Cobh is still trying to rearrange the altar but the locals are winning that one! It would ruin the character of the place if they changed it.
Anyway, I think Jesus pulled a few people up in his day for getting too bogged down in the letter of the law, and not the spirit.
Happy ‘blogging’ to you and good luck with all your projects!
Siobhan (Ireland)