Thursday, May 26, 2005

You must have heard the joke. You know the one...

Question: Why is it impossible for a person to starve in the desert?

Answer: Because of all the sandwiches there! [Because of all the sand, which is there.]

Yes, silly it is. But it's one of the only ones I could think of, to tell my son Leo on the way to school this week. When I said the punchline, there was silence from the back seat of our Yukon. If it wasn't for the traffic outside our vehicle, you could have heard Leo's mind whirring.

"Daddy, anyone knows that a person will starve in the desert."

Obviously, he wasn't quite getting the subtle humor of the joke.

In the remaining time we had to drive to school, I tried to explain to Leo that humor and jokes are largely based on emphasis; the emphasis that is placed on the words and the sentence structure and timing. It didn't matter how I tried to explain it or repeated the joke, he just wasn't getting it. And that's okay. You can only explain a joke for so long before it's no longer funny, even to yourself.

But it got me to thinking...

In this spirit, isn't it wonderful how humor can mirror Life and its journey? The emphasis we place on our life, and where we specifically place that emphasis can make all the difference between "sandwiches" and "sand, which is." Is your emphasis solely on career? Then the punchline - your life and its process - may simply look and feel like a series of upward and downward steps on the proverbial career ladder.

Is your emphasis solely on winning at all costs - in your relationships, your decisions, your life choices? Then the punchline - your life and its process - may simply be a balance sheet of supposed successes and failures.

Is your emphasis solely on faith? On family? On love and hope? On enjoyment? On service? That is not for me to decide, but for you to make the ultimate decision on where to place your own personal emphasis. Wherever that emphasis is placed could mean the difference between a full stomach along your journey in life... or simply starving on the side of the road...