‘Pardon me, but I find nothing funny in any of this’

Pardon me if I do not laugh.

 

Comedians make their living by finding people and situations to which they
can put a humorous spin to make America laugh. Nothing wrong with that. Humor
is a gift of God to human beings who are created in His image. There is even
a healing aspect to humor.

Pardon me if I do not laugh.

 

Comedians make their living by finding people and situations to which they
can put a humorous spin to make America laugh. Nothing wrong with that. Humor
is a gift of God to human beings who are created in His image. There is even
a healing aspect to humor.

 

But pardon me if I do not laugh at any more jokes about the immorality of two
of our nation’s leaders.

 

The tragedy of the former president of our nation having a sophomoric, stupid,
adolescent, improper, immoral sexual relationship with a young woman his daughter’s
age is not funny. Obviously, some things about the episode can be laughed at
– collective America has been laughing at jokes about the sordid affair
for years. But, have we allowed the humor to replace in our thinking the reality
of the tragedy?

 

And now, one of the nation’s more visible African-Americans has been caught
in immorality. Jesse Jackson confessed to having a child by a woman other than
his wife. As is true with every immorality, other shady, maybe illegal cover-up
aspects of the episode continue to surface. One sin fosters another, Jesse Jackson’s
and former President Clinton’s ordeals prove.

 

And sure enough, the jokes are beginning to roll about Jesse Jackson’s
immorality.

 

But this editor finds himself more and more angered by constant jokes about
such failures of leadership and less and less willing to laugh at them.

 

President Clinton set a miserable example for the young people of our land.
At the same time our government was funding information diffusion about the
dangers of promiscuous sex to our young people, the main man in the position
of leadership of the same government by his actions was saying” “Don’t
believe it. Do what you want; be irresponsible.”

 

And now, the most visible leader of African-Americans who has been preaching,
as a minister, that African-American males need to be responsible regarding
sexual behavior, fatherhood and family does exactly what he has preached against.
So much for the integrity of that message from that man and asking African-American
men to use him as a role model. Jesse Jackson said he will be supportive of
his child emotionally and financially. Fine. But talk about having to go with
far less than the best. He may do as “right by the woman and the child”
as the circumstances allow, but it will be at the expense of his wife and family
and reputation, and to think he can be as responsible as the woman and baby
deserve is ludicrous.

 

Pardon me if I do not laugh as Jay Leno and David Letterman and Conan O’Brien
pop their one-liners about how funny all of this is. I can’t laugh for
crying.

 

However comedians on television are not the only ones getting a good laugh
from all of this. Political, and even religious, opponents of these two men
seem to take great delight in sharing a belly-laugh or two from these tragedies.
Some of them even enjoy putting a little racial humor into the mix.

 

What these two men did was wrong, wrong, wrong – not funny. Our young
people should hear far more about the immorality of what these men did and the
tragic consequences of their actions than they hear jokes and laughter about
them.

 

Personally, I have committed not to pass along any more Clinton-Lewinsky or
Jesse Jackson affair jokes. Call me a killjoy, a fuddy-duddy, a humorless bumpkin
or sanctimonious do-gooder. I am just tired of trying to act like such tragedies
are funny and encouraging by my action the youth of our land to think all the
morality teaching of the church and society is something to wink at and laugh
about.