Get Over It!

People take way too many things serious.  I don't know if it is due to their own seemingly self-importance or if they just don't know how to understand a good joke.

Facebook, is one way to find just how too serious people can be.  There are so many hilarious cartoons and photos with captions posted on a daily basis.  Yes, some can be perverse and vulgar, but that is not the ones I'm talking about.  Allow me to give a couple of examples.

Suicidal Books

Remember this one?  I laughed out loud when I first saw this.  I found it on Random House's Facebook page and had to share on mine.  Many others did as well while it generated a myriad of "Likes" and comments. How funny that a publisher would promote the death of reading by the rise of shows like Jersey Shore.

Later that afternoon, I noticed the photo was no longer on my Facebook page, so I went to Random House's page only to find it had been removed with an apology to suicide victims.  Apparently Suicide Prevention had taken it way to serious and complained.  Random House pulled the photo and posted an apology.  Really?  First, a book is inanimate.  Second, there was no reference to a person committing suicide.  Thirdly, it is a metaphor for how we as people are slowly killing brain cells by dumping a book for mindless mush such as Jersey Shore.  Remember, it's a proven fact that reading can delay or even prevent Alzheimer. We need to keep our minds sharp and by not reading we are killing that literary need.

I'm not making light of suicide.  It is a very serious thing that causes so much heartache to those left behind.  I've actually dealt with depression and thoughts of suicide and, thank goodness, got the help I needed.  Yes, it is indeed a serious thing.  However, the photo and caption is taking another direction.  So, Suicide Prevention person, thank you for your help with all those suffering and for being there in there greatest hour of need, but please keep your sense of humor and realize that this is another area of concern.

Steve Jobs and Moses' Tablets

The news of Steve Jobs death saddened many.  The man was truly an innovator and  genius, advancing technology in ways we never dreamed.  I remember working on an Apple Macintosh back in 1984.  I remember my first iMac, which I purchased in raspberry red.  I remember having to whittle down my CD selections when taking a trip, but Steve even made that simple for us all with iTunes and iPods.  Knowing all of this this, why would this cartoon not be sweet and sentimental?  I remember when Charles Schultz died a cartoon showing St. Peter welcoming Snoopy at the Pearly Gates.  There are numerous other cartoons, too, where St. Peter is welcoming or showing someone in to their new home.

America is a country of sentiment. When someone does good, leads in innovation, gives back to the community, we bestow a kind of saint hood upon them.  Steve Jobs was a saint to the techies and techy want-to-be's.  When this cartoon was drawn and shared, it was more of an American consent and respectful way to say farewell to a man who made a difference and remembered as a saint, not a commentary on Steve Jobs' beliefs.  I doubt the cartoonist was thinking of Steve's eternal salvation at the time.  He was using humorous satire by playing on Steve's bestowed saint hood and the arrival to meet St. Peter.

Of course, someone had to twist it all around.  I came across a blog today of an acquaintance from years past. A very opinionated, self-righteous person with delusions of grandeu who really takes himself too seriously.  When he posts a photo with a caption, he likes to let his FB friends know if it he had to edit foul language. Likewise, with this, he had to blog of how the cartoon did not depict the real Steve Jobs because  he was Buddhist and cruel to his employees.  Really?  REALLY?  First, no one truly knows a man's heart.  We do not know what Steve was dealing with personally during his illness.  Secondly, dude, do you not have anything better to do than to nitpick an innocent cartoon meant to be taken more as a humorous homage to Mr. Job's innovation and brilliance?

My mind goes to all of these big name television preachers who spend their time taking and putting in their own pockets. It is celebrity, not Christianity.  There are a couple here in San Antonio who have built huge churches and staffing their family in them as pastors.  The reputations that surround these pastors is not flattering among the majority, only their followers (and yes, I said followers). The guy I mention in the paragraph above is a huge follower of one of these pastors.

As a Christian and a pastor's wife, it saddens me how easily people can loose a sense of humor so quickly and take what is meant as humor too seriously, to the point they must analyze it to extremes.  God gave us the wonderful gift of humor.  Proverbs 18:1 tells us that "A cheerful heart is good medicine" (NIV). I'm sure Jesus had an excellent sense of humor.  Just look at some of his comments to the Pharasees and religious leaders of the day.  I'm sure both people I mention above will argue that they indeed have a good sense of humor, but when it gets to the point of missing the whole joke because you nitpick an unnecessary offense, you have totally lost all sense of humor. I'm not talking about vulgar, sexual, humor, I'm talking about satire, humor with a message, something that makes you think.

A pastor friend of mine had a wonderful comment for people who take things too serious:  "Get over it!" When we can learn to get over ourselves and our pious, sanctimonious views of humor, then we can truly laugh.  I learned to do this a long time ago and I've never felt better!