But Seriously Folks

I like to make humor of any situation, but I’ve never considered myself a cynical person. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve had the chance to attend numerous positive thinking and spiritual seminars. I had a chance recently to participate in the famous Dale Carnegie leadership course. I had always wanted to do this and was happy that my employer decided that they would pay for it. Then again, that could be why I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I thought I might.

An interesting aspect of the course is when each member of an assigned group writes what they like most about each member in the group. Every member of the group complimented me on my ability to tell a story with a sense of humor and a slight amount of sarcasm. Sarcasm? Me? I didn’t understand where that was coming from. To make matters worse, the facilitator noted “gotta love sarcasm” when he presented me with my participation award. I didn’t get it. Was I really that bad?

I guess I do have a problem taking things seriously at times. Well, probably most of the time. I remember once during the course when the facilitator had us recite Mother Goose nursery rhymes. He usually did silly things like this to get us warmed up for class. The problem was that I didn’t really know Mother Goose. For most folks, reciting the nursery rhymes was no problem.

As it turned out, I knew a little Mother Goose as well. The first nursery rhyme we recited was Mary had a Little Lamb. I knew this one. “Mary had a little lamb,” I shouted in harmony with everyone else. However, that was about as far as I got when I realized that the nursery rhymes I was familiar with were different than the nursery rhymes everyone else grew up with. While everyone else recited “Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow,” I recited it the way that I knew it. “Mary had a little lamb she kept in her back yard.”

Luckily, no one noticed. I realized, though, that the rest of the nursery rhyme I had learned growing up probably wasn’t appropriate for class. I just kept quiet for the rest of the recital, but wonder what would have happened had I recited the rest. After all, this class was about public speaking and Andrew “Dice” Clay once sold out Madison Square Garden reciting his nursery rhymes that were etched in my memory.

As hard as I try, I can’t remain serious for an extended period of time. It certainly doesn’t help me at times professionally. Sometimes, I feel like Chandler Bing when he was applying for a job (Chandler's boss: Let's talk about your duties". Chandler: "You said doodies"). I must admit that I take great pleasure in seeing the bewildered looks on people's faces after a wisecrack that is usually at their expense. When it gets me in trouble, I can always claim that they misunderstood me or something. As a wise man once told me, “even us geniuses are sure enough absent minded.”