It's a good thing not all people are psychologists or we'd all have about 500 untreatable diseases. I've heard "diagnoses" for a million pyschological ailments and hang-ups, some downright hilarious and others downright terrifying. But the most ununderstandable part to me, is why we find ailments and limitations so downright hilarious.
Or do we?
I've dealt with a lot of health issues. For the most part, people have been really supportive. Definitely been blessed. I mean sure sometimes all the "unnecessary" bags get a scornful look, but generally if you just carry them all for yourself and keep up with the group and shove them under your own seat everything's fine.
It's the obvious stuff people love to pick on.
Like speech impediments.
Like the shape of Down syndromers faces.
Like being crippled.
Like shortness.
Like being Mexican.
Like having blonde hair.
Like stereotyping.
(wow! I don't think I want to use the word "like" again for the next month at least!)
By this point maybe you are politely rolling your eyes because it seems I've once again gone off on an unrelated tangent. What does diagnoses and making fun of stutters have to do with each other? Actually they go together perfectly. See, among other eventful happenings this summer I was diagnosed with a serious hang-up. A hang-up about none other than my hair color.
(For those of you who know me only online.... it's blonde. Or blond. But I prefer blonde. Kinda like "Anne with an 'e'." We might be "kindred" readers if you get that.)
Yeah, a blonde hang-up.
Why? Because while I try to laugh along over blonde jokes, after an hour's worth of only blonde jokes I get bored. And I may have even been known to suggest other genres after awhile. And even more embarrassingly I may have even pointed out I was one so could we please change the subject.... and after they degrade from the first five fairly funny (try saying that fast) to the next really awful 50.... I may have mentioned it again more vehemently.
Yeah, obviously I have the biggest hang-up in history. *sarcasm alert - but you've probably picked up on that by now*
Most jokes like that are harmless. But we all know when we're being picked on and when it's just a general conversation topic. After one scathing session I remember mentioning it privately to a trusted friend. "They probably didn't notice your hair color," was their excuse.
Yeah, they probably didn't just like people don't notice speech impediments or height or wheel chairs. All you have to do is keep your eyes open. But why would anyone bother to do that?
Once upon a time in a hypothetical situation, there was a plane full of red headed, brownheaded and blackheaded people. But there was only one blonde. The pilot was an idiot so he took the wrong route and by the time he realized it he was running low on fuel. REALLY low. (No, this isn't in the original joke, but it always bothered me despite hearing it 500 times why there was no explanation for the following incidents.) He explained the situation to the passengers over intercom and explained they would need to lighten the load in order to try to use less fuel. First the baggage went. Then the seats. Then the bottom of the plane. (Maybe the pilot wasn't so much of an idiot as a diabolical menace.) But still it was too heavy. "Someone must jump and lighten the load," announced the pilot. The blonde spoke up."I'm the only blonde on here so I'll go." Immediately all the redheads and brownheads and blackheads clapped. *guffaws inserted here* Of course the blonde still died because the pilot managed to get lost again and flew over an active volcano- end of joke
It wasn't funny was it? Even minus the last line of really bad humor that wasn't humorous. Why? Because the stereotype makes it funny.
Embarrassingly enough in the past I've been known to make a little stink about blonde jokes and generally hated them. That was wrong. It's not turning the other cheek. Or side of the head in this case. But now I don't do that. Just get really quiet and try to feel invisible because it's better than feeling picked on. I laugh along if it's funny. Don't if it's not. Just like any other joke. We should be able to make fun of ourselves and see the humor in life, right?
But I've decided some jokes aren't worth laughing at. Like mentally handicapped or racial jokes. They're hurtful even if they're hilarious.
"Now wait a minute, Mia. Wait a cotton pickin'," you're saying. It's just a harmless joke. If we left stereotypes in jokes and our minds only maybe it'd be ok. Not ideal but ok. But do we? The stereotypes we perpetrate in "harmless" fun often carry over to real life interactions. Our subconscious brains don't always shut on and shut off ideas. And yes, maybe some stereotypes are a little true. But not everyone with a stutter is stupid and not every blonde is big chested with no brains.
That's why I have a "blonde hang-up." Sometimes when I'm bubbly it's equated to becauase "she's blonde and blondes are overly excitable." Sometimes when I do something stupid, but no more stupid than others, it's a "blonde" moment. I get told not to "play into the stereotype," etc.
Thanks to having God always standing beside me, I view myself as confident and capable in Him. I'm incredibly grateful for the brain God gave me and for the grace He supplied to obtain a college degree before 20. So maybe I don't have a blonde hang-up.
Maybe I have a hang-up about carelessness.
Or maybe about thoughtlessness.
Or maybe prejudice.
Or selfishness - the heart of all negative issues.
