Sensitivity

I'm tired of gay jokes.  I'm tired of jokes about addicts, about nerds, about geeks, about blonds, about anyone and everyone.  I'm tired of jokes about polygamy, religion, God, bullying, race, culture, and speech patterns.  Why, in such a troubled world, where no one escapes pain and suffering, do we continue to inflict additional isolating and marginalizing shame disguised as humor?

What people are really saying with these jokes is "I'm so insecure with you being different from me, that I need to make people laugh about it, so I know I'm not the weird one."  It is not a reflection on them, but a total reflection on you. 

The next time someone says to me "Really?", in that deep sarcastic tone that really means -- "Are you really stupid enough to do what you just did?", I'm going to call them on it.  Do you REALLY think I'm stupid?  Do you REALLY think you would have done better than me given the circumstances? 

What people are missing here is that we are not the sum total of the things that we do.  We are worth way more than that.  Each of us, regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in, the choices we make, the words that we use, the things that we think, are children of God.  The homeless man on the street, the woman selling her body to make ends meet, the suicide bomber, the gay man, the bully, the bullied, the people caught in addiction, the missionaries, the children, the elderly, are all equally important, equally loved in the sight of God.

Does that mean we welcome each into our homes with complete abandon?  Of course not.  Does it mean we trust each with our children because they are children of God as well?  Never.  It doesn't even mean we have to be tolerant of their behavior.  But what it does mean is that we have no right or privilege to laugh at some one's expense.

*stepping off soap-box now*

I have been there -- I have felt the shame that humor brings and that is probably why I am so sensitive.  But I really am not going to allow it in my presence anymore.