“Why is it no one is telling anyone jokes anymore, has the country disintegrated into such a morass of doom and gloom, that no one seems to want to share a good amusing story or joke with each other?”
Robert Redford has a movie called “A River Runs Thru It.” In the movie there is a scene where the female lead looks to Brad Pitt and says to him, “Norman is not funny.” Which is an amusing scene, but in all reality, I suppose you would have to see the movie first to appreciate it.
Out of all the movies my wife has seen in her lifetime, this one scene, seems to resonate with her. I have not a clue as to why, but she will look at me when I attempt to share something amusing with her, or tell her a joke.
And her reply, is always the same …. “Norman is not funny.”
Now my wife is Chinese and very funny, in her own way. She will say stuff all the time, that I find amusing as all get out. We were for example, traveling thru the Panhandle of Oklahoma on vacation, where coincidentally there thrives a very large population of Antelope. Somewhere west of a little place called Guymon, Oklahoma, traveling down the highway at 65 mph an antelope came up out of the bar ditch and literally leaped over the hood of our automobile!
I was at the very least, shocked and amazed.
My wife looked at me and said: “What is he doing out here running wild like that, he could hurt someone!” Now at that juncture of time, it would have not only been appropriate but very politically correct to interject “Norman is not funny” into the conversation. I on the other hand chose to reply with …. “Uh, he LIVES HERE that is why.”
Why? Because I don’t like eating tuna fish sandwiches day after day when she finds me not so funny.
Which brings me to this. Why is it no one is telling anyone jokes anymore, has the country disintegrated into such a morass of doom and gloom, that no one seems to want to share a good amusing story or joke with each other?
When times are good, folks tell jokes, when times are bad … well, you know. The bible says that “laughter doth the heart good” which means you are a Happy Kamper when you are laughing and quite possibly a back-seat Baptist if you live in Oklahoma.
Here is something else to consider. It takes a lot of muscles in your face to frown, it only takes a few to smile … I am basically lazy when it comes to this crossroads of my life. I am going to smile, I am going to grin, she is going to wonder what it is that I have been up to and when I dutifully try to explain it to her … She will simply say … “That not funny.”
Just this past week, I came into the kitchen and she said, “Where have you been?” and I said, “McDonalds.” She then said, “Why you go there, that is not good for you, nothing healthy.” and I said, “They have a new Value Meal, and I wanted to try it.”
My wife then says to me, “A new value meal. What is it called?” and I said, “It is called the Obammer. You order anything on the menu that you want and the guy behind you has to pay for it.”
It is not easy being Norman, but someone has to do it.
See you at the water cooler.
OOO
