Some folks do not learn

Have you ever known someone who just naturally seems to be the butt of every joke? Sometimes you can just be around a person like that for a matter of minutes and you immediately recognize that they are going to be the object of ribbing and everyone is going to pile on at every opportunity. Even those who have not known the person but for a few minutes seem to revel in making fun of them somehow. It seems that every joke is going to be pulled on that person.

Recently I played a trick on a good friend of mine who is similar in nature, and it seems that I just cannot refrain from joking around with this person. To me it is fun to develop a scheme that an otherwise exceedingly intelligent person will fall for “hook, line, and sinker”. Mine was just such a joke and this person was just the kind of super intelligent target that I liked to play tricks on. My scheme was well planned and well executed and in fact took months to reach maturity. It was clever and hilariously funny; to everyone but my friend that is.

Alas when developing the idea for my prank, I did not consider that my friend’s feelings would be hurt in the process. I am not a mean-spirited person, and that was not my intended consequence. To be honest I thought that my friend would think that it was funny too and we would have a good laugh together about it and discuss how ingenious it was and analyze how and why anyone would have come up with such a diabolical plan to begin with.

As a young boy it seemed I was always the butt of the family jokes. I was often ridiculed and it was standard fare at the dinner table to single me out to make fun of me and pick on me. It was not mean-spirited, in that no one in my family was deliberately and sadistically trying to destroy my fragile self-esteem, but after experiencing literally years of this, that is exactly what happened. I believe that many of the problems that I had later in life were in part because of their relentless good natured ribbing. As a result, I developed a near hatred for bullies and have carried it through my life up until today. Many of the fights that I got in during my early years were with bullies and I was determined to teach them a lesson about picking on someone in order to show off for their friends. Those were lessons that they were not soon to forget as I tore into them like a buzz saw, but paradoxically it seems those same lessons were lost on me.

Alas I cannot undo my prank, but I can refrain from pulling another one. Before you make fun of someone or pull a joke on them, consider the consequences. Some folks can take a joke and some cannot. Some seem to be destroyed by it. I think those who already have somewhat of a fragile sense of self-esteem are the most vulnerable. Unfortunately it is difficult to tell ahead of time.

When faced with a difficult question, I always try to envision what Jesus would have us to do. Jesus instructed us to treat everyone as we would like to be treated. I suppose there are some who do not mind being the butt of a joke; however not many. Better to leave it alone.

With that in mind, I have vowed to do better, (at least for humans). My son recently visited me on my plantation, and they brought their little dog Lou with them. I kept annoying him by sticking my boot in his face and shaking it. Lou began to get mad especially because as he moved his face away I would move my foot right back in front of his muzzle and tap his sensitive little nose. He started barking and biting at my shoe and I responded by intensifying my efforts to annoy him. He really began barking and squealing and creating a racquet that could be heard down on the lower forty. Just then my son’s wife yelled at poor little Lou and told him to simmer down. Lou glanced up at me with ears lowered after just getting chewed out and I was laughing at him by saying ah-ha-ha-ha-ha and jeering at him and pointing my finger at him because he got in trouble. He was not amused, but with one eye on my son’s wife, he walked stiff legged with as much dignity as he could muster over to the couch to get away from me and my tormenting him. It was great fun (I know – I know – I have a long way to go)

John 15:12
This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have
loved you.