By Jim Henshaw
I’m not sure if this was a good month or a bad one for the people who enjoy annoying other people.
On one side, actress Ashley Judd, after being threatened with sexual violence by Twitter trolls who didn’t like her playfully dissing their basketball team, sued her attackers.
On the other, actress Eva Mendes, similarly attacked for playfully dissing sweat pants, offered a retraction AND an apology.
A friend of mine recently asserted that it now takes three people to tell a joke. One to Tell it. One to laugh. And one to be offended.
Now maybe all of those third parties were always offended. I once dated a woman who insisted that jokes she didn’t find funny were actually thinly disguised attacks on the butt of their humor.
Needless to say, we didn’t last long.
But people either finding or manufacturing offense are becoming more common these days. Some days it feels like CNN, FOX and the CBC can’t fill their newscasts without finding something immensely unimportant to stoke outrage about.
And even though that might bolster some demographic, it succeeds at the same time in utterly annoying another.
I’ve always believed that Life is less about what happens than how you choose to deal with it. Because ultimately, you’re the one making the decision to be happy or sad –- or annoyed.
Let me give you an example.
Gluten.
According to Medical stats, less than 1% of the population is Gluten intolerant. Add another 1% for those with borderline issues. Yet “Gluten Free” is all the rage in the Foodie community.
Not long ago, a friend who serves as a Deacon in his church told me that a group of parishioners had lobbied for a Gluten Free Communion host –- those little wafers that represent the body of Christ.
He shook his head and added, “We checked. And they’re available”.
I imagined a coming Sunday at the altar rail as the acolyte with the regular wafers would be waived aside for the one with the more acceptable alternative.
So much for the “unworthy for the crumbs from thy table” homily, huh?
Now – you can feel annoyed about that. Or – you can be annoyed at me for not being sensitive to the Celiac afflicted. Or for something I’ve said about Christians.
But how about chuckling at the human condition and moving on.
If that’s tough for you, you might try the option of booking a life coach. Maybe one like JP Sears.
Sears is an authentic and professional emotional healing coach, international teacher and world traveler whose work empowers people to live more meaningful lives.
And one of the tools he uses in that work is humor.
Recently, Sears released a video on living Gluten free, which is actually a lesson in “How To Be Annoying” – or maybe how to realize you’re being annoying and look at who you are (or who’s annoying you) with some bemusement.
It works.
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