Joke unjoke
A usual workday. Twenty-three emails in my inbox. Twelve of them forwarded. Four containing jokes.
I, being a bit of a comic character myself, appreciate receiving jokes through email. How can I not welcome them after spending several hours in front of a computer trying to figure out how to get a computer program to work? They lighten up my workday. They help preserve my sanity.
However, there are some jokes that instead of making my workday lighter dampen it altogether. I’m referring to “green” or obscene jokes. I have received them a couple of times, and I think I still will in the future. It’s not unusual for a person to receive a green joke, laugh at it for a while, and then start sending it to all the persons in his address book without thinking that some of them could be offended. Of course it’s not always out of malice that people send this type of jokes. When a person sends me a green joke, I would like to think that he is only trying to share something that he thinks is amusing- something with which I could enjoy myself. I would reply to his email and express my gratitude for this thoughtfulness, but I will also try to explain to him, with as much kindness and clarity as I could gather, the sanctity of sex. You heard me right the first time. The Sanctity of Sex. After sending him a warm greeting, I would write some explanation like:
“Sex is something holy, something divine. God, in his marvelous design, has chosen to make man participate in the wonderful task of creation, in the task of perpetuating mankind, through this sacred act. God is present whenever this act is done - in order to infuse the spiritual soul once a new human being is formed.
Sex, therefore, is a gift from God. In His plan, this act should only be performed in the intimacy of marriage. We have no right to use it or portray it in a way other than the purpose of the One who has given it. Any attempt to take it away from that context or to show it in any other form desecrates it, brings it down to the level of the brute.”
This may sound like a homily, but hey, I’m not preaching! The defense of the sanctity of sex is not reserved to the clergy and the religious. It is for all those who would like to wage a war against a world that tries to make us believe that man is a beast.
I also used to think that joking about sex is quite normal; something natural for a person who is mature enough, until I was told and I realized that it is not. It is not natural to joke about sex. It is not normal to publicly joke about something so intimate and so divine.
It is good to be funny, to share jokes and have fun. But, perhaps, not over such a sacred gift as sex.
I, being a bit of a comic character myself, appreciate receiving jokes through email. How can I not welcome them after spending several hours in front of a computer trying to figure out how to get a computer program to work? They lighten up my workday. They help preserve my sanity.
However, there are some jokes that instead of making my workday lighter dampen it altogether. I’m referring to “green” or obscene jokes. I have received them a couple of times, and I think I still will in the future. It’s not unusual for a person to receive a green joke, laugh at it for a while, and then start sending it to all the persons in his address book without thinking that some of them could be offended. Of course it’s not always out of malice that people send this type of jokes. When a person sends me a green joke, I would like to think that he is only trying to share something that he thinks is amusing- something with which I could enjoy myself. I would reply to his email and express my gratitude for this thoughtfulness, but I will also try to explain to him, with as much kindness and clarity as I could gather, the sanctity of sex. You heard me right the first time. The Sanctity of Sex. After sending him a warm greeting, I would write some explanation like:
“Sex is something holy, something divine. God, in his marvelous design, has chosen to make man participate in the wonderful task of creation, in the task of perpetuating mankind, through this sacred act. God is present whenever this act is done - in order to infuse the spiritual soul once a new human being is formed.
Sex, therefore, is a gift from God. In His plan, this act should only be performed in the intimacy of marriage. We have no right to use it or portray it in a way other than the purpose of the One who has given it. Any attempt to take it away from that context or to show it in any other form desecrates it, brings it down to the level of the brute.”
This may sound like a homily, but hey, I’m not preaching! The defense of the sanctity of sex is not reserved to the clergy and the religious. It is for all those who would like to wage a war against a world that tries to make us believe that man is a beast.
I also used to think that joking about sex is quite normal; something natural for a person who is mature enough, until I was told and I realized that it is not. It is not natural to joke about sex. It is not normal to publicly joke about something so intimate and so divine.
It is good to be funny, to share jokes and have fun. But, perhaps, not over such a sacred gift as sex.
I wrote this short essay some years ago while working as a computer programmer. Receiving these jokes through e-mail may not be as frequent now. Sharing indecent posts through Facebook may be its equivalent nowadays.
Photo by LittleMan in www.sxc.hu.
Comments
Post a Comment