I have an odd sense of humor. This cannot be denied. It’s likely part and parcel of my membership on the Spectrum, as we say these days. This quirk of mine once again took me into the headlights of peril when I attempted to make a joke about a meme that was superficial and failed to take into account the complexities of a difficult issue. Well, I mean, that pretty much describes all memes but back to my odd sense of humor.

The meme was about how success was like an iceberg and that you only saw the results rather than all the things that went into obtaining that success. It reminded me, with my odd sense of humor, of a Rodney Dangerfield classic called Back to School. In that movie Dangerfield plays wealthy industrialist Thornton Melon who goes back to college to inspire his underperforming son.

Stay with me, I’m getting there. The two take a business class in which the professor plans to build a factory to produce widgets. The proposal of the professor is idealistic and doesn’t take into account real world issues like corrupt politicians, unions, and the waste management industry. Melon interrupts the lecture to give a hilarious speech about these realities.

Now, back to my world. Having seen the idealistic meme about success and remembering the movie; I decided to riff a comment along similar lines. In a moment of clarity, rare to me, I recognized that, perhaps, people might not understand my odd sense of humor and even included the bit about waste management and the boy scouts figuring that such an inclusion would certainly let everyone know I was joking. Yeah, that worked.

The original poster called me cruel names, a friend came to my defense claiming I retired early, this being true, although I’m not sure how such excuses my comment, but thank you in any case, Lisa. Another friend chimed in to point out how insightful was my comment.

No one got the joke. Sigh.

The important part of all of this is that the original poster was angry and that’s his business. A friend came to my defense and that’s her business. Another friend agreed with my comment failing to recognize it as humor and that is also her decision.

I’m the one that told the, apparently not funny, joke and that’s on me. I feel no remorse for attempting the humor nor am I angry at the person for not getting the joke and calling me names. It’s all just fine. Everyone is good. Life goes on. There is no need to escalate, to blame, to return the name calling, or relish in some sense of superiority because I convince myself I’m better than others.

I’m happy with where I’m at in life, odd sense of humor and all. You be you and that’s cool also.

Tom Liberman