06.20.10
Vienna Waits for Me
- Image via Wikipedia
This Week’s Comedy Around the World goes to Vienna, Austria. To show how our humor can get quashed.
Recently I’ve been doubting the need for humor. Wondering where my target audience is, and if they are indeed on another planet, as I’ve often suspected. The more I wonder who could use humor, the more de-motivated I become. And the harder I try to market my services to an unavailable and invisible audience. And the more frustrated I become.
Great comedy, huh, folks?
Sounds more like the cycle of perfectionism, doesn’t it? That cycle looks like this: If something isn’t working, we’re taught in our capitalist culture to try harder. Get stronger. Beat the competition. Stay ahead.
Not to examine our path. Not re-think our strategy. Not to ask, “Am I still having fun?”
One of my professors at Penn State, Ian Baptiste, used to rephrase the often-quoted, “If you teach a man to fish….” He would always ask, instead, “Why are we fishing?” Why aren’t we hunting. Or trapping. Or just being a vegetarian and picking some berries?
In the confusion of de-motivation, we don’t often think straight. Or think creatively. We just get into compete mode and stay there. No matter how painful it becomes, or how little fun we’re having.
I used to travel this way. Just covering ground. Seeing how many ‘famous’ buildings and scenery I could see in a winter-long period.
But pretty soon all the cathedrals blended together. Sometimes I would wake up and not remember which country I was in. “You’ve seen one beach, you’ve seen them all,” one of my traveling friends would say. And to this day, that is true. I don’t even like the beach. I’ve seen too many of them. And they really are (or seem, to me) all the same.
But this travel-malaise was brought to a halt when I met a certain person in Vienna. He was one of the many hostel-dwellers that I had met on my six-month Euro-tour. He embodied what humor is all about. He was carefree. Easygoing. Not worried about anything.
I asked him whether he was going to see one of the discounted-ticket shows that the hostel advertised. Or maybe one of the palaces in Vienna. Or—the Stallions?
He didn’t answer “Yes” to any of those. He said he was going to go buy one of the pastries that Vienna is famous for. And then he was going to sit on the steps of one of the opera houses. And just eat the pastry.
I couldn’t believe it! He was wasting precious Euro-time. With centuries-old things to see, we tourists have to move fast here!
But he wasn’t doing that. He was just stepping back, sitting still. And having fun. Are you in a quandry about your next move, your next step or direction? Why not buy a pastry and go to the opera. And don’t forget to ask, “Am I having fun?”
