The positive and healing power of humor cannot be measured! Humor helps to reduce stress, anxiety, and tension and that's why I use humor to get out of embarrassing situations, and there have been plenty in my life! STOP; LOOK AND LISTEN! That's the advice I give people if they want to get more humor into their lives. You have to "stop and smell the roses," pay attention to the things around you; and you have to be a good listener. People ask me where I get my ideas and humor, and the answer is always the same: around the home; around the work place, and out in the streets, etc. I have two examples of embarrassing moments I will share with you, and the first one involves being a good listener. My ex-wife had a great sense of humor, but she was not a very funny person most of the time. She rarely came up with anything funny, or if she told a joke, she would usually screw it up! That's fine...I can't fault her for that! I screw up most of my jokes, too! But, she shined when she told me the following story about what her receptionist did at work one day. And, she picked up on this bit of humor because she was listening. When she told me this story, I almost fell over backwards! Human Services The office of the Human Services Dept. (N.M.), which handles child abuse cases, was quite busy on this particular Monday morning. Clients and attorneys were waiting in the reception area, and several of the children were in the nursery, and the telephones were ringing off the hook! The receptionist had only been on the job for about a week, and as in any new job, she was still trying to find her way around, etc. As the morning wore on, the office scene continued to be quite hectic! And, by mid-morning, things became a little dizzying for her, as she tried to take care of everyone's needs. Looking a bit drained and a bit overwhelmed with it all, she was overheard to answer the telephone, "Good morning...Human Cervixes...may I help you?" * * * Another embarrassing incident was told to me by my wife, who had a friend named Michelle, and the story goes something like this. Stranded! It was about 9:00 in the evening, on a cold December night, and Michelle was on her way home from attending a meeting at school. She was driving on the outskirts of town where she lived, when she noticed and felt that something was not right with the front end of the car! She didn't know if a tire was going to blow out or just what the problem was, etc. So, she pulled off the highway to take a look. She got out of the car and went around to the passenger side to check things out and she saw nothing unusual. So, she went back to get into the car to continue on her way home. There was only one problem. She locked herself out of her car! OOPS! Now, Michelle had a big problem! She left the engine running and the headlights on! What to do? She paced around the car, and couldn't think of anything to do, except to break one of the windows to get in! But, she didn't want to do that, because her husband would probably kill her for doing something stupid like this! It was cold outside and she had to think of something FAST! She looked down the highway, and noticed there were store lights less than a mile down the highway, maybe a gas station or convenience store, she hoped. (this was before cell phones) So, she decided the only thing she could do, was to start walking to use the phone. She figured it would take her about 15 minutes to walk to the store and call her husband to come and get her, so she she started walking. A few minutes after she left the scene, a police officer stopped at her car to check things out! What he found was sure interesting. An abandoned car with the engine running, the doors were locked and the headlights were on! What was the officer to think...foul play, perhaps? The officer looked all around the area, to see if he could see anybody around, but there was nobody. So, he called for help for other units to join in on a search. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or at the store where Michelle had walked to, she arrived and called her husband on the phone. From the phone booth she was calling from, she looked back up the highway, and noticed flashing lights near her car! The worry set in right away, that something had happened to her car! She told her husband that she would meet him at the car, which was less than a mile north of the convenience store. Worried, Michelle was in a hurry-up mode to get back to her car, after seeing the flashing lights! As she walked faster and faster toward her car, she noticed more flashing lights, and could hear dogs barking off in the distance, and she didn't know what to think! She then noticed a low flying helicopter with a spotlight shining all over the place. "Who or what could they be looking for," she thought to herself! Huffing and puffing, she continued down the highway, and she knew something was not right where she left the car! As she got closer, there were more flashing lights; traffic backed up; the sound of barking dogs off in the distance; the helicopter flying low overhead...what could be wrong? After a few minutes, she finally reached the scene, and as she lumbered across the highway, she went up to the first police officer she saw and said, "Hello, officer...my name is Michelle, and that's my car parked over there. I locked myself out; left the engine running and the headlights on and went for help. Is there anything wrong? * * * Life's embarrassing moments! We all suffer from them! If you have an embarrassing incident happen to you, try to capture it on paper or on film. As the experts say, having the ability to laugh at ourselves, at all the crazy things we all do, CAN BE HEALTHY! |
