Scene 13 - My Penis will be With You

I’m back.  Summer break is ending, and I hope you’ve had a great summer time.  After a wonderful vacation travel with my girlfriend, I’m excited to be home - getting ready to teach a new semester - and continue work with this blog.

That said, this first entry back is rather light hearted - help us to ease back into the material - I hope you enjoy.

**********Scene 13 - My Penis Will be with You*************

After I returned, my recovery continued rapidly.

We still had visitors at the hospital, though not in the same numbers as before,
and my best friend Ryan remembers one time when he came to visit me.

And it was weird.

I mean, here’s my best friend and he’s alive, but…

Well, he and I, we used to talk about things, you know, Talk, like…you know…

Books, Music,
Movies,
Chicks - we would Talk,
and here he is, having trouble forming complete sentences…

and it was weird.

My father sat in the corner, and he saw that it was hard for Ryan, but…

Well, it came time for Ryan to leave, and he stood to go, but I said,
“Wait, Ryan, where are you going?”

“Uhh…dude, I got to go I got, uh, band rehearsal.”

“Wait for me.  I’m want to go with you.”

Ryan, uncomfortable.

He knew I couldn’t actually go with him - that I had to stay here in the hospital, but did I know that?
He looked to my father for help, and my father quickly stood, coming over to say that what I wanted to do was nice by Ryan….

But I cut him off.

“No, I know I can’t be with you Physically,
but Ryan,
My Penis will be with you.”

And I laughed.

I had a made a joke.

This was big,
I mean, Joking.

Joking - it’s hard - abstract thought - its another way of thinking.

This joke - My Penis - it demonstrated a new level of cognition.

******************Commentary***************************

After decades of education and a wide variety of experiences - from youth until this very day - I appreciate a “Penis Joke.”  Genitalia are funny, male and female - peculiarly shaped organs that are responsible for the removal of waste and the creation of life - organs that instantly bring physical and emotional extremities of joy or pain decided by only slight variation in how they are handled - viewed with simultaneous repulsion and attraction - a necessary part of our humanity, yet considered taboo in many cultures.  I find this amalgamation of contradictions hilarious - and being in my late teen years at the time of my accident, I was at the ideal age for the infamous “penis jokes”.

Is there an awkward moment? - Say “Penis” - and this amplifies said awkwardness to a comical degree.  Laugh about it.

Laughter is a blessing - a phonetically meaningless rumbling from the gut recognized as joyful throughout the world - honest laughter demonstrates a moment when the body, mind, and soul harmoniously vibrate in unity.  In the scene above, with simple, shock based humor, I proclaim - “My penis will be with you!” - and we are given a reason to vibrate in laughter.

There is an understandable discomfort at the prospect of laughing in the face of tragedy - if a friend is in a dire situation it can seem disrespectful to dismiss their need with laughter - and if laughter spawns from any malicious or harmful impulse, then it is rude.  But if laughter makes light of a situation thrown at us by the maelstrom of existence, humor can lessen the impact.  Existence is funny, and too often we forget that - much comedy, after all, is merely tragedy viewed through a new lens.  To quote the great comic performer Mel Brooks, “Tragedy is when I stub my toe.  Comedy is when YOU fall into an open manhole and die.”

We grant personal existence with an exaggerated importance, and its well that we do - belief in personal importance is a part of what makes us want to survive, but the truth of the matter is that much, most, or perhaps all of life is a cosmic comedy when observed from afar…it is just hard to recognize this in middle of the scene.

All that is to say - when tragedy strikes and you are given a moment to laugh, take it - not as mockery of the suffering person, but laugh at the comedy of life.  Share that laughter - friends, family - vibrate together.