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When I was a kid, people often called me Jimbo. It’s what they did to guys named Jim back then.
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This was OK with me, since I found it funny.
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Speaking of funny:
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I’m sitting and talking and listening and eating, which is just about the most fun you can have clothed or unclothed—at least, sometimes.
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My friend Jo is sitting and talking and eating and listening, too.
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This is an opportunity to learn something new, so, as is my wont, I pop out a spontaneous question, “When you are alone, do you ever laugh?”
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Jo’s eyes grow wider than usual and, instead of answering, she exclaims, “Why, what an unusual question to ask! Why would you ask that?”
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This gives her time to ruminate and come up with a reply, I suppose.
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I say, “Just something I wanted to know—you don’t have to answer it.”
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But Jo does answer, “Well, yes, I do laugh when I’m alone.”
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I can believe this, since Jo has a wicked sense of humor, thus I’m satisfied.
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So many people I’ve met through the eons don’t seem to have the ability to laugh at much of anything, much less at themselves, much less with themselves. I try not to hang with these folks, since I do like to laugh—especially at myself. Just observing me is sometimes hilarious, particularly as I grow older. Added to that is life, which is increasingly hilarious as well.
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I grew up as a question-asker, which scares some people and intrigues others. When very young, I determined that the best way to find out stuff was to ask questions. I also learned that not asking questions can lead to a very dull time, since lots of people don’t ever think to ask me a question. Either they don’t want to know anything about me, or they are content with being quiet and somber.
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When I don’t receive an answer to a question, I learn twice as much as I’ll ever learn from a proper answer. Either way, I’m going to learn something new in the process. It may not be what you hoped I would learn, but it will be a learning experience.
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Myself when young naturally gravitated to activities that required question-asking, and I therefore learned a bunch—a bunch of primarily useless information, but information that was interesting and exciting and funny and scary, regardless of its uselessness.
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So, I became a child actor and performer and teacher and reporter and writer, all of which require the asking of questions and, further, the listening to answers.
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I’m never bored. I’m often in the presence of others who are bored, but just asking them questions to get their reaction sometimes makes them forget how much pleasure they are deriving from being bored. It’s like shock therapy.
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As I learned from H.G. Wells and the Pet Shop Boys, people who are bored are people who are being boring. Both states of mind frighten me, so I just go on my merry way, asking and listening and treading the maelstrom that threatens all of us—the maelstrom that wants to bore us to death.
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Tell me something funny and uncruel and I’ll have a good laugh. If you can’t think of anything funny to say, just say whatever comes to mind.
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Don’t worry—I’ll find something funny in it
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© 2011 A.D. by Jim Reed