If They Laugh, It Was Worth It

In life there are times when we say or do something that we wish that we could take back. These are the embarrassing moments that others love to use to make fun of us when they need to lift their self-esteem a little bit. (I could go off on a random tangent with that thought, but that could be the focus of another blog) Personally I feel that these moments help to humble us a little so that we are forced off of the "high horse" that we like to sit on all the time. Luckily, for people like me, I am pretty much immune to public embarrassment because one, I really don't care what other people think about what I do (even if it is a little retarded) and two, I like to make other people laugh, and if the only way to do that is do something stupid, so be it. I have a high enough self-esteem (at least I like to think so) that I can take public embarrassment. Heck I say and do stupid stuff at work all the time, but it gets my coworkers laughing, and that makes me smile.

I can't say that there are many defining moments where I have just been totally humiliated in public. There are just the little things that people forget over time. The ones where people remember forever is something that I don't really think I have ever experienced (either because they haven't happened, or I have subconsciously buried them in my brain). I mean there was a time when I was in third grade where I got hit in the head by a loose baseball bat flung by a sixth grader. I think that that hurt more than it was embarrassing though. I think most of my embarrassing moments have been personal ones where I was the only one around to witness it. I guess if I asked my brothers or parents they could tell me a few things. I do remember one time when I was little where I really mix and matched my wardrobe. I have no sense of color coordination even to this day. So one day I decided that I would wear plaid pants with a checkered shirt (see what I mean) in public. I remember going to the store with my mom, and when we were in the parking lot she saw what I was wearing and told me that my sense of dressing myself was way off. I think she was probably more embarrassed than me though because I had no idea what I was doing.

There was one experience that I had recently that was pretty embarrassing for me. I share it only because I figure that there isn't anything I can do to change the past now, so why worry about it. So I laugh it off, and learn from it. That is why we have those kinds of experiences anyways. Well, getting on the the story I had taken a girl out to dinner and we had walked to her door, (and now to show how completely ignorant I am to the dating process) we stood there for a second, and I said, "I don't know what to do now." She replied, "well you can either walk away, or hug me and walk away." Then I said, "I'll choose the latter." I gave her the hug, said "have a good night," and went home. I look back on that and think of how stupid I was, but I was only being honest. I really didn't know what to do. I guess it will be something that I can look back on when I'm older and tell my grandkids about. Even though it was an embarrassing moment, it really wasn't that bad for me. So if that is the best I can come up with, I'd have to say I haven't gotten above a 4 on the embarrassment scale (on a scale of 1-10 of course). But there are many years left in my life (hopefully) so I'm sure there is plenty of opportunities for me to make a fool of myself in front of others. But hey, if they laugh, then it will all be worth it. So that is my point of the day. If something embarrassing happens in your life, just let it be an opportunity to make others laugh, and roll on. Besides, no one is really immune to a slip up or two. They are bound to happen eventually, so learn to live with it.