Things That Drive Me Crazy

While this world is full of truth, beauty, and goodness, it is also full of annoyances, irritations, and pet peeves. What follows is a list of things that drive me crazy. Send me yours, and I'll share some of them in a future column. Thanks.

· Liberals who say they fear that politically engaged Christians are seeking to establish a theocracy in America—unless said Christians happen to support causes that they themselves champion.

· People who denigrate “big agriculture” out of a desire to be more socially conscious—forgetting that only agribusinesses have the capacity to feed the world’s hungry.

· Multimillion-dollar pro athletes who hold out for ever larger contracts, not because they have the right to be paid as much as the market will bear, but because they have to “feed their families.”

· Carefully separating your plastic and paper for recycling, only to see the truck driver dump it in the same bin as the garbage going to the landfill.

· Seeing quote marks added around words, just for “emphasis.” Try italics.

· Seeing ’n’ (for and) misspelled as ‘n or n.’

· People who pompously say “persons,” not “people.”

· People who say “chairperson” or “spokesperson.” Don’t they know whether the person is a man or a woman?

· People who say “spouse” when they could say “husband” or “wife.”

· Commercials ad nauseam during televised sports or on talk radio.

· Teachers who schedule mathematics work late in the afternoon, when kids are tired and ready to go home.

· Too much homework. Let kids be kids.

· High gas prices, coupled with no realistic government plan to wean us from imported oil.

· Well-compensated teachers who constantly complain they are underpaid, while working only nine months a year and having lifetime job security.

· Tailgaters.

· Yogurt cups without plastic lids.

· People who are constantly on their cell phones. What’s wrong with being present where you are?

· People who say, “I have good news and bad news.” The latter almost always wipes out the former.

· Clutter.

· The homogenization of the American landscape, with Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Wal-Mart available wherever you go.

· The almost complete loss of mainstream media, television, and film to a suffocating, politically correct agenda.

· The phrase “Time is money.” Actually, time is much more valuable than money.

· Local television news programs that provide uncritical, free advertising to the purveyors of the latest dubious health nostrums.

· Reporters who stick their microphones in the faces of grieving moms and dads.

· People who get their view of the world from Headline News or The New York Times.

· Universities that work overtime to separate young people from their values—while gouging parents for the privilege.

· Christian schools with out-of-this-world tuition rates that only the rich can afford.

· Using trendy new words, such as “gifting,” when the old words, such as “giving,” work perfectly well.

· People who value partisanship and power over the national interest.

· People who plan their vacations, their kitchens, and their retirements to the nth degree but who give hardly a passing thought to where they will spend eternity.

· Fast-food workers who ask, “Do you want fries with that?” If I did, I would’ve said so.

· Jerky grocery store conveyor belts that knock your food over on the way to the cash register.

· Computer camps. Fishing is camp. Roasting marshmallows and playing games is camp. Sitting in front of a screen trying to figure out a spreadsheet is work, no matter how you spin it.