A Little Note & A Big Difference -- By Matty Jacobson with contribution from Anonymous

Matty Jacobson owns, operates, edits
and contributes to The Skewed Review.

THE SKEWED REVIEW

Validation is one of the most powerful tools available to humans.

Of course, validation can be both negative and positive. But either way, validation shows a person you care enough to make a gesture.

I found the note pictured left under the windshield wiper of my truck the other day after a nice meal at Jazzy's Rock'n'Roll Grill. I almost didn't see it at all, and when I did notice it, I half ignored it just in case it was a parking ticket of some sort. (By the way, parking tickets will eventually just flutter away if you conveniently ignore them while driving 75 miles per hour on I-15.)

To say I was pleased as punch to receive such a compliment would be like saying Abraham Lincoln was just an average president/vampire hunter. In all fact, this small gesture made my day, my week, and even my year.

I know you just sang the chorus to that song in your head.

I chucked this note up on The Skewed Review Facebook page and Tweeted it out to the hundreds of followers who promptly ignore said tweets on a daily basis. I'm not going to lie; this made me feel quite important.

One of our readers suggested the note came from a stalker, but I don't know if that reader's ever seen the truck I drive around. It's a little impossible to not know the driver of this truck is somehow and in someway connected to The Skewed Review.

This is what happens when a combination of vanity and fonts explode onto the back of a vehicle.

I've also received my fair share of very negative validation. But, like I said earlier, validation is validation. I hope readers of this humble column can take the bad with the good. It's taken me a long, long time to accept negative criticism with positive reinforcements.

Just keep in mind that if someone takes the time out of his or her life to validate you, whether or not the words are kind, then know that whatever you're doing is important enough to warrant said interaction.

And to the anonymous note writer: Thank you. You've stoked my fire! And please, if any of The Skewed Review's contributors or I get off kilter to the point that we become unreadable, I hope you'll drop a similar message our way to remind us why we're writing in the first place: our readers.