05.04.10

How Not to be Misunderstood

Posted in Humor~Events, Humor~Health & Goals, Humor~In The News, Humor~Inspirational at 1:38 pm by Dr. Trina Hess

Today marks the 40th annivarsary of the shootings at Kent State. That defining event showed has risky it can be to speak your mind. And how dangerous a misunderstanding can be.

When I was about ten years old, I rode with my family to Kent, Ohio. We picked up my grandma’s cousin who lived near Kent and she gave us the official tour. Pointed out where the shootings occurred. I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I hadn’t paid attention to the news. But now I realize that just like humor can occur anywhere, so can events like the Kent State Massacre.

There was likely no humor on May 4th, 1970. Nothing to laugh about. But humor could have prevented disaster, altered history, and brought more of a win-win resolution.

The lack of humor in the Kent State Massacre showed us some things:

How to Not Express Your Opinions The demonstrators were overtaken by emotion. So were the National Guardsmen. Both lost.

How to Not Take Yourself (or Your Side) So Seriously Emotions drove actions, to the detriment of both sides. Seriousness prevented either side from even considering another side’s point of view. Both lost.

How to Never Achieve a Win-Win The heaviness of both sides’ views weighted them to their respective sides. There may have been little they had in common. But without advancing toward the other’s perspective, no progress was made. Both lost.

Having a sense of humor isn’t a panacea. Times of distress, danger and destruction make humor especially hard to find. But it’s exactly humor that can whip us into attention and broaden our range of actions.

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