This section is dedicated to presenting some jokes to support a theme. I found these on the internet. I couldn’t find any authors of these jokes. A joke can be used to support a stereotype or to break one.
Theme: personal perceptions:
A lady goes to the post office to buy some stamps. She only had a $100 bill to pay with and she only needs a few stamps. The clerk asks, “What dominations do you want your change in?”
‘Gosh!” She said. “It always comes down to religion, doesn’t it? I’ll have two Baptists, one Jew, four Mormons and four Methodists.
What can we learn from this joke? Each of us makes an interpretation of something or someone through past experience and education. This woman must be religious because when she heard the word domination she connected it to churches rather than currency.
We make our own interpretations as well. We may feel comfortable associating with various people throughout the world if we are well traveled or know more than one language. If we don’t have more experience we may feel shy when meeting others.
Let’s say I had a parent who always told me purple is a terrible color. People who wear purple hats can’t be trusted. If I grow up hearing that year after year when I meet a person wearing a purple hat, what will be my response? I most likely won’t trust them. Raising family is an important time to be careful on sharing our prejudices with our children. The home is a good place to learn to expand our opportunities and still be wise on our behaviors.
Theme: The definition of value
A man bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: “Free to good home. You want it, you take it.” For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. My friend decided that people were too untrusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: “Fridge for sale $50.” The next day someone stole it.
This joke could touch upon honesty, but I want to take a different slant. People often don’t value something if it’s free. One example could be the freedoms here in the United States. Many of us never had to fight in a revolutionary war to become an independent y country from England. We didn’t have to fight in the civil war to champion the cause of freeing slaves. We have the benefit of our country through the actions of those who came before us.
We can tell this joke and associate it to how we determine something of value. Would we value a friend because of their action toward us, being trustworthy and a provider of good counsel? Do we value a product or an object because of how it makes our lives easier or convenient? Would we value education because it simply parrots what we already believe in; or would it be more valuable if it challenged our current thinking? Many students have to work to pay their way through college. Shen having to work to pay your way through school, would you find yourself more likely hitting the books or partying every night?
Our actions often tell us how we value something or someone. The same can be said for the amount of time we spend on it. (ie: texting over actually establishing one on one relationships.) The stolen fridge joke can be a great lead-in for discussions such as these.
More examples will come next week.
Do you have something to add, either humor or technique? If so please do so in the comment section of this blog. Thanks.
