Reader Meet Author

Even though I’ve written about paying attention to the feelings of other people… and not laughing at things that aren’t funny… and giving other people the benefit of the doubt… I’m human. I spend a lot of time here writing about ways to bring out the best of human nature. But human nature isn’t always pretty. Sometimes it’s brutal, honest, and unpleasant.

For example, here’s a list of 10 things I’ve laughed at… but probably shouldn’t have:

1. A guy slipping and falling out behind the office while taking bags of trash to the dumpster. He dropped all of the trash… but luckily they cushioned his fall.
2. An old woman who pulled out into traffic and was then too scared to actually drive out into the turn lane. In effect, she all but parked perpendicular to the rest of traffic… right in the middle of the road.
3. A neighbor who spent almost 30 minutes trying to drive her car up the hill in the parking lot while it was covered in ice. She spun her tires for literally half an hour… and never got anywhere. In fact, she eventually slid back down the hill.
4. A kid who, after smarting off to his mother, got his butt spanked right out in public… in, get this… the Toys R Us parking lot.
5. A guy on crutches who was attempting to tie a headboard to the roof of his car without any help. He attempted to run string through the open windows of his car to attach the headboard. Instead, he ended up tying all of his doors shut.
6. A co-worker, who’d recently sprung her ankle, fell backwards at the copy machine while trying to hobble around without crutches. She was fine.
7. A patient at the hospital who, because of her mental retardation, didn’t realize that it was inappropriate to spend hours rubbing her own nipples to pass the time.
8. Another patient who SAID he was dreaming about pooping and actually pooped his pants. I don’t believe him. I think he just pooped his pants.
9. A friend who tried to pee in the woods but ended up peeing all over her own pants. In fact, I made a big sign that said “[Friend's Name] Peed Here” and stuck it right in the spot where she peed. Another friend of ours saw the sign several days later while on a walk with her entire family.
10. Myself when I laughed in front of a co-worker and accidently farted.

As you can see, most of these things are the type of situations or events that we’re told not to laugh about. But most of us do. And you know what? It’s okay. Sure, we’re told we shouldn’t laugh about these things. Sometimes we even beat ourselves up for having made something that shouldn’t be funny into a joke.

Remind yourself about what’s funny and what isn’t… maybe even work on getting better about not laughing at the expense of others. But don’t deny the unsavory parts of human nature. Because as soon as we start denying the parts of our nature that we don’t like, we start denying what it means to be human.