Summer Skin

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. In an entry long, long ago, I ratted my brother out for having trash duty (he's no environmentalist, it was punishment) almost everyday of second grade. Today, he gets his revenge because I'll admit that I too had trash duty for a week of my life...in the seventh grade.

It was one of those days close to the end of the school year where everyone wanted to be carefree, but the dark final exam clouds loomed overhead. The clouds were purely metaphorical though, because in actuality, all we felt was the sweltering heat of early June. My friends and I put our creative minds together an invented a fantastic game -- water tag. Basically, whoever was "it" chased everyone else with an open water bottle and could only tag someone with water thrown from the bottle. Don't roll your eyes. We were in the seventh grade. Give us a break.

About ten minutes into our game, we were rudely interrupted by some authoritative figure who was so kind as to give us trash duty* for the last week of the semester. At that moment, he, in our minds, stole the dark-cloud title from our impending final exams. In a matter of seconds, our fun, carefree lunchtime had turned into a week of bitterness, the fear of tainted permanent records, and sheer embarrassment (Picking up trash while the rest of your friends and the big-kid-8th-graders are sitting and watching. For five entire days. Traumatic).

I'll be the first to admit that I am a joker. I enjoy sarcastic banter, lightly poking fun, humorous stories, inexplicably fun games. I'm cautious, though. I get close to the line but am careful not to cross it. I can't say I'm an expert, but at some point, a joke or game just stops being fun. It gets overdone, it hurts someone, it's only funny to one party, the list goes on. Our water-tag game had little foresight. We thought in the fun of the moment and not the potential consequences. And perhaps part of being a child is being able to get away with thinking that way. Unfortunately, as we grow up, we have to throw some judiciousness and empathy into the mix. It's our duty as social creatures, especially those that like to have fun at the (minor) expense of others, to think first. In the end, a joke or game is only fun(ny) if others are laughing with you.

After all, as Winston Churchill once said, "a joke is a very serious thing."

*For those of you wondering, water-tag elicited trash duty for the following reason: Should someone being chased turn around to face the person who was "it" and breathe in at the exact moment that "it" had thrown water (perfectly into the chasee's mouth), said person would choke. Our game apparently had fatal consequences. Nine years later, I still have very strong opinions on this ruling. But venting is for Xangas.