Recently, I have encountered staff’s attempts to make fun of both my issue with food, and my wearing of orange clothes. This reminded me of one of my deal breakers that I had with a former long-term boyfriend in Sweden: What about, and when, to joke, and when not to.
While humor sometimes can ease up an atmosphere in a room, or conceal someone’s actual anxiety and fear, it most certainly is one of the more vicious tools we have. As we all know, there is a difference between making fun of, and laughing together about something.
I attest this to not knowing better. People who haven’t suffered the same kind of hardship some of us have, can’t relate and perhaps don’t want to learn, because of the severity of it. It’s a whole lot easier to laugh it off, than to stop, listen, empathize and solve an offense.
Before you make fun of someone’s food choices, go hungry. Before you make fun of prison suits, wear one. Ask instead what is behind those decisions. Dare to deal with that!