Kitty is someone I haven’t spent much time at all around in recent years, but, being my babysitter, was an important figure in my childhood. Asking her what she thought of my credo, I found out that she’s not so idealistic about quality the way I am. She was quick to tell me when I brought it up that really, finances come first, quality comes second, and you make do with what you have. Which isn’t something I can really ignore, no matter much I want crappy things to not exist.
The very first thing she did when I asked her about her own beliefs is quote Shakespeare: “unto thine own self be true.” Being true to, and not misrepresenting yourself, is at the very center of her values. Integrity is very closely linked to this for her, as is language. She talked to me about what her mother called “weasel words,” that try to excuse you from responsibility for what you’ve done or what’s happened. It’s important to her not to be a “weasel person, because it nibbles away at your integrity,” as she put it. This particularly resonated with the chunk of my soul that PSCS inhabits, with its philosophy and value of integrity.
I don’t know if my credo has been changed at all by my interview with Kitty, but it’s definitely given me something to think about, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to get some insight on her that I didn’t have before, and I’m grateful to have had her in my life at all.
