In December, I was doing a post on my work blog – that included GoElfYourself.com and ScoogeYourself.com, basically putting photo heads on animated bodies of elves or scrooge and watching them dance. http://blogs.technet.com/JBUFF/archive/2007/12/21/go-make-a-snowflake.aspx
For the elves, my father-in-law had already put in the faces of my three kids — and I still laugh everytime I see it.
For Scrooge, my original post had something to the flavor of "If you don’t personally feel like a Scrooge during this season, you might take the opportunity to put your co-workers’ face in the place of Ebenezer" – and I had begun to post one of my co-workers’ faces on the Scrooge body.
Here is where I went bi-polar.
Left-Side of Brain
It occurred to me that the person whose face that I had inserted on the Scrooge head might not get my joke, and I certainly did not want to offend anyone. So, I made sure that they were online, then asked them to double-check an upcoming blog post. I posted the blog, so that they could see it in context and sent them the URL – thinking that they could either chuckle and rubber-stamp it, or immediately provide feedback.
When I told him I was doing a light blog but wanted his validation, even before seeing it, my Ebenezer-friend asked "Are you making me an elf or scrooge?"
Cha-Ching!! He was going to get the joke !!! YAY … but wait…
He saw it — and said it was inappropriate. So I pulled it immediately. I used one of the canned Ebenezers that was already on the website. No big deal…
For the elves, my father-in-law had already put in the faces of my three kids — and I still laugh everytime I see it.
For Scrooge, my original post had something to the flavor of "If you don’t personally feel like a Scrooge during this season, you might take the opportunity to put your co-workers’ face in the place of Ebenezer" – and I had begun to post one of my co-workers’ faces on the Scrooge body.
Here is where I went bi-polar.
Left-Side of Brain
It occurred to me that the person whose face that I had inserted on the Scrooge head might not get my joke, and I certainly did not want to offend anyone. So, I made sure that they were online, then asked them to double-check an upcoming blog post. I posted the blog, so that they could see it in context and sent them the URL – thinking that they could either chuckle and rubber-stamp it, or immediately provide feedback.
When I told him I was doing a light blog but wanted his validation, even before seeing it, my Ebenezer-friend asked "Are you making me an elf or scrooge?"
Cha-Ching!! He was going to get the joke !!! YAY … but wait…
He saw it — and said it was inappropriate. So I pulled it immediately. I used one of the canned Ebenezers that was already on the website. No big deal…
Right-Side of Brain
I was mad at him for not getting my joke, for taking it and himself so seriously, and for me not getting to be as funny as I would have liked.
"Earth to Jason … I had invited him to weigh in".
I used to quote a saying "Never ask a question that you don’t want to hear the answer to."
Whether it be asking asking my kids "Do you want to go to bed now?" … or my wife "May I buy this?" In those two examples, the lesson is "Don’t phrase it as an open-ended question." To my kids, I say "It’s time for bed" since they don’t get a vote on bedtime. To my wife, its "I’d like to buy this, but what do you think?" so that she still has an opportunity to weigh in, but she knows my desires and its a more balanced conversation.
What I needed to learn
In the case of my Ebenezer joke, if half of my brain thought that he might have an issue – enough so that I should ask the question. Then, the other half of my brain needed to prepare for either outcome – and frankly, should have expected the negative response, but been happily suprised if a more positive one came up.
Should he have taken himself less seriously? The left side of my brain thinks so. But the right-side reminds me that it doesn’t really matter.
I was mad at him for not getting my joke, for taking it and himself so seriously, and for me not getting to be as funny as I would have liked.
"Earth to Jason … I had invited him to weigh in".
I used to quote a saying "Never ask a question that you don’t want to hear the answer to."
Whether it be asking asking my kids "Do you want to go to bed now?" … or my wife "May I buy this?" In those two examples, the lesson is "Don’t phrase it as an open-ended question." To my kids, I say "It’s time for bed" since they don’t get a vote on bedtime. To my wife, its "I’d like to buy this, but what do you think?" so that she still has an opportunity to weigh in, but she knows my desires and its a more balanced conversation.
What I needed to learn
In the case of my Ebenezer joke, if half of my brain thought that he might have an issue – enough so that I should ask the question. Then, the other half of my brain needed to prepare for either outcome – and frankly, should have expected the negative response, but been happily suprised if a more positive one came up.
Should he have taken himself less seriously? The left side of my brain thinks so. But the right-side reminds me that it doesn’t really matter.
This year, my daily devotional is John Maxwell’s "Leadership Promises for Every Day". The Scripture for January 4th is Proverbs 17:22.
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.
The wisdom that Dr. Maxwell shared was:
If you tend to take yourself too seriously, give yourself and everyone else around you a break. Recognize that laughter breeds resilience. Laughing is the quickest way to get up and get going again when you’ve been knocked down.
Put it all together, I need to not take myself or those people or things around me too seriously. And in my heart, I need to find more of the Grace and laughter that makes most of the bumps in my world not really matter.
Happy New Year, folks…
Jason Buffington .com 
Leave a comment