silly
Being a bit under the weather a while back caused several things to occur that were not good, two of which I would like to mention. The first was that I crept slowly around the house for the better part of four days, not feeling like doing any thing – even lying down. This is very unusual for me, being blessed with good health. I didn’t even feel like being on the computer – it was bad!
The second thing was that I did very little in the field of silly. The word “field” is mentioned because silly is a very big arena, encompassing multitudinous methods of expression, the main ones being the spoken, the written and the actions. Silly just happens to be one of my areas of study at HKU – Hard Knocks University.
The word silly is not defined very well in Webster’s – the definition I came closest to agreement with was: absurd; ridiculous; nonsensical. Yet in personal experience I have found the word to be much deeper and fuller than any of these, and depending on the purposes and/or the usages thereof, it can even become a way of life.
A man by the name of Mike Meyers once said: “Silly is you in a natural state and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again.” Not only do I agree with this statement, I strive to measure up to the principles it sets forth. Furthermore, I feel that there is a certain amount of silly in everyone, maybe more than they realize themselves.
To take this enlightenment even further, I propose that one needs to express the silly within on a regular basis or it will build up in pressure and possibly cause harm to the person involved. Most of us have a safety relief valve in case the silly pressure gets too high, but a few do not and never realize it until their silly tank has exploded and they have covered everyone nearby with large globs of silliness.
This makes me wonder about clumsy people. Do they really stumble, trip, drop things, run into things with different parts of their anatomy by accident; or is it a subconscious silly pressure release – sometimes to the much amusement of those nearby. There has to be some credence to this hypothesis since they do not seem to be able to control these amusing actions – at least they are comical to those watching.
Being a silly person myself, I’m able to spot and appreciate others of this same persuasion, even those that are very subtle in their farcical words and actions. Basically, it takes one to know one. The real challenge to the silly person is to ply their trade to its fullest extent without those within earshot thinking that they had recently fallen out of a tree and landed on their head. Wait – maybe that could be a goal as well!
Silly appreciation is something to be cultivated over a period of time; one does not just come to this type awareness overnight. Appreciation in this case seems to come with participation and the more involved one becomes, the less time it takes to break loose from seriousness. Seriousness being a necessary evil, much like the valley between two mountain peaks. Even a small amount of silly is better than sitting around in a stupor of vapidity – now there’s a word for you.
At times it is hard to tell if someone is being silly accidentally or on purpose. Such was the case the other day with the two grandsons that are mobile. The older one – almost 3 at that time – came to sit in my lap. I told him that I was going to ask his tummy if it would like to be tickled, then proceeded to do that. After I asked his tummy the question, he sat there a moment and then said, “she is not answering you”.
The younger of the two, 18 months at the time, is always “exploring”; especially the things that he has been told “no, no” about in the past. The other day he went around to all the dining room chairs and briefly touched each one in turn and said “dis - no, no, - dis - no, no, - dis - no, no”. I guess he figured that was their name, since that was what we always called them to him. They both got an “A” in Silly 101.
Silly is our choice; much like forgiveness and peace has been made our choice because of Jesus. Make everything right with Jesus and then you can “lighten up” and be as silly as decorum allows. To decorum and beyond!!!! ec
The second thing was that I did very little in the field of silly. The word “field” is mentioned because silly is a very big arena, encompassing multitudinous methods of expression, the main ones being the spoken, the written and the actions. Silly just happens to be one of my areas of study at HKU – Hard Knocks University.
The word silly is not defined very well in Webster’s – the definition I came closest to agreement with was: absurd; ridiculous; nonsensical. Yet in personal experience I have found the word to be much deeper and fuller than any of these, and depending on the purposes and/or the usages thereof, it can even become a way of life.
A man by the name of Mike Meyers once said: “Silly is you in a natural state and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again.” Not only do I agree with this statement, I strive to measure up to the principles it sets forth. Furthermore, I feel that there is a certain amount of silly in everyone, maybe more than they realize themselves.
To take this enlightenment even further, I propose that one needs to express the silly within on a regular basis or it will build up in pressure and possibly cause harm to the person involved. Most of us have a safety relief valve in case the silly pressure gets too high, but a few do not and never realize it until their silly tank has exploded and they have covered everyone nearby with large globs of silliness.
This makes me wonder about clumsy people. Do they really stumble, trip, drop things, run into things with different parts of their anatomy by accident; or is it a subconscious silly pressure release – sometimes to the much amusement of those nearby. There has to be some credence to this hypothesis since they do not seem to be able to control these amusing actions – at least they are comical to those watching.
Being a silly person myself, I’m able to spot and appreciate others of this same persuasion, even those that are very subtle in their farcical words and actions. Basically, it takes one to know one. The real challenge to the silly person is to ply their trade to its fullest extent without those within earshot thinking that they had recently fallen out of a tree and landed on their head. Wait – maybe that could be a goal as well!
Silly appreciation is something to be cultivated over a period of time; one does not just come to this type awareness overnight. Appreciation in this case seems to come with participation and the more involved one becomes, the less time it takes to break loose from seriousness. Seriousness being a necessary evil, much like the valley between two mountain peaks. Even a small amount of silly is better than sitting around in a stupor of vapidity – now there’s a word for you.
At times it is hard to tell if someone is being silly accidentally or on purpose. Such was the case the other day with the two grandsons that are mobile. The older one – almost 3 at that time – came to sit in my lap. I told him that I was going to ask his tummy if it would like to be tickled, then proceeded to do that. After I asked his tummy the question, he sat there a moment and then said, “she is not answering you”.
The younger of the two, 18 months at the time, is always “exploring”; especially the things that he has been told “no, no” about in the past. The other day he went around to all the dining room chairs and briefly touched each one in turn and said “dis - no, no, - dis - no, no, - dis - no, no”. I guess he figured that was their name, since that was what we always called them to him. They both got an “A” in Silly 101.
Silly is our choice; much like forgiveness and peace has been made our choice because of Jesus. Make everything right with Jesus and then you can “lighten up” and be as silly as decorum allows. To decorum and beyond!!!! ec
posted by mreddie | 8:31 AM
3 Comments:
Love your comments on being silly, and I agree that it is a state that we should enjoy.
...Z
Hi mreddie, thanks for the visit, you are right about the well prepared vehicles, in that sort of country and days from help sometimes preparation is everything.
Do pop in again sometime there is a pretty varied menu, something for everyone.
It does take one to know one... that must be why I so like coming here. :-)
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