Askew: (adv & adj) wrong and awry

We should probably make up our minds.

Although it is popular to extol the virtue of walking the straight and narrow, and being considered “normal” in our politically correct environment, it is always the opinion, attitude and askew appearance of the well-promoted standard that gets all the attention.

I remember recently walking into a motel room where there were three pictures hanging on the wall, but only one gained my focus.

It was askew.

The other two faithfully adhered to the wall in straight lines and were barely noticeable.

I fidgeted with the crooked picture for ten minutes, trying to get it aligned with the others, only to discover that it was bent, uneven and therefore unwilling.

We must decide:

Are we going to applaud the individuals who respect the common good and quietly live a life of needful submission to reason?

Or are we going to put the cameras of our news media on the bent and twisted individuals who disrupt society with their paranoia or mania?

Many things in our world are askew.

• Some of them are intriguing and curious and worth a quick “look and see.”
• Others are dangerous and tip us precariously on the verge of social, spiritual or even physical Armageddon.

How can we tell the difference? We have to decide if the picture on the wall needs to be straightened or if it can remain crooked.

Feel free to call me a little obsessive-compulsive, but the picture on the wall of my motel room which was askew–well, I removed it and set it in the corner.

It did not have the right to be part of the beauty of my world.

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix