I am an extrovert, I love social situations, I love getting along with people—good people anyway—and I love being happy always. I also love putting smiles on people's faces through jokes. If you know me in real life, you will discover that I love to laugh a lot, maybe to laugh away my worries. LOL! Whatever the case, to me, cracking jokes brings about laughter, and whenever I laugh, my nerves get relaxed, and I feel better and happier. No wonder I am always on the adventure of searching for things that make me happy whenever I am depressed.
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Most times, our friends may cross boundaries with jokes. They might come up with an offensive joke, which you can tolerate, but sometimes the joke goes too far. People take a lot of things for granted due to friendship. Sometimes they get carried away with words and end up hurting each other through the use of words, all in the name of jokes.
Join me as I share with you an expensive joke a friend made to me that was taken seriously.
I have a friend named Joy. I met her here in Lagos State, Nigeria, where I reside with my family. We started getting along so well. She could tell me so many things about her marriage, her parenting styles, and other things concerning her personal life. We weren't so close before she started sharing so much info with me. On my end, I was still studying her but didn't share much about my life yet with her. I needed to get to know her better first, but the only single piece of information I shared with her she joked with me about the next day, and I felt so bad about it.
I told her about my childbirth experience and how I have been giving birth through surgery due to complications. She felt for me on that day when I shared my story with her, but to my greatest chagrin, she joked with me about it the next day. Look at her words: "Nkem, you are not woman enough oo, it's only strong women like us that can push our babies in the labor room normally without experiencing a knife in the stomach like you." I turned my face towards her so could repeat what she said, and she said it was only a joke! She was kidding, like, seriously? Joking with me with such heavy words? Sincerely speaking, I am crying even while typing this post. This is a woman like me who is supposed to understand that when complications arise in pregnancy, what matters more is the life of the mother and her child, not necessarily the method used in giving birth. Well, I confronted her and warned her never to joke with me on such matters because I detest it. As much as we are friends and can joke with each other, there is a limit to everything. You don't just voice out words as they come into your mind without processing them. That was the most expensive joke I have come across in my life, and I don't wish to go that far with others, no!
In my own part, I have made jokes with people like calling some people "coconut heads"😉 and the likes—not a serious joke that got me into trouble anyway, but in everything, we get to guide our tongue, especially with some set of people in our lives—and joking into people's private lives because you know them much isn't healthy in my opinion.
Be watchful of your words! Words can hurt; they can cause depression in our fellow humans. Also remember that spoken words can never be retrieved!
This post is in response to the #hivelearners community contest on the topic Joke Too Far.
