Powerless 10 - Doctor it hurts when I do this

Comedy Relief

"Doctor it hurts when I do this." The doctor replied, "Well then, don't do that!" Whether it was watching Tom and Jerry cartoons or the Three Stooges, I learned to laugh at other people's hurts. When it came to my own hurts, I might laugh it off, too! 

The shows weren't as graphic as they are today, but they weren't so "politically correct", either. So when someone who looked different, spoke different, dressed different - we thought it was fine to make fun.

Of course, real life is much different. A pie in the face doesn't hurt that much, but falling off a cliff like Wile E. Coyote packs a punch! You can't just "suck it up buttercup" every time someone who is demeaning you for the style of your clothes or color of your skin without having the pain come out in some other way.

A commercial break

When I was doing marketing, I would watch TV not for the regular scheduled programming, but for the commercials that we often fast-forward through if possible. Trying to get an edge on the competition for my client's websites, I studied the advertisement design of the 10 to 30 second clips of companies during prime time television - ads that seemed to work, even if the product didn't.

The ads became more and more filled with happy, free-to-love-life people who were suffering from everything from heart disease to a broken nail.  Often, there was a pill for that - with a small disclaimer of all the side effects that were worse than, or even included the symptoms that were claimed to be fixed.

Save the Children and Puppies

Perhaps the most stifling (and a bit confusing) combination of the comedy and commercials was when I watched a rerun of "All in the Family", then that commercial with Sally Struthers would come on. Looking back, I'm a bit ashamed for laughing at the bigoted antics of Archie Bunker - but even more ashamed for looking away when seeing the poverty of the malnourished children.

Somehow, we are more apt to send our coffee money to help kids and puppies with sad eyes. However, when one of our own friends, neighbors, even family is struggling with hurts, habits, and hangups, we often change channels or make light of their situation - as if it would help. Inevitably, the one who is suffering will then continue to self-medicate, ignoring the pain as they've been ignored - with side effects that never tend to go away.

Through Celebrate Recovery, I learned how to stop denying my pain and unhealthy behaviors - overcoming the fear of "what will people think if they found out that I'm not a robotic superman?" Laughter may cure many illnesses, but there is no pill or self-medication that can heal some of the deeper hurts - especially if we don't admit they exist!

Even King David - the mighty man of God, the man after God's own heart, the man who slew ten thousands - understood the need to cry out to God in his pain, suffering and fears. The Psalms are full of these admissions of struggle, including this from Psalm 6:2-3: "Pity me, O Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, for my body is sick, and I am upset and disturbed. My mind is filled with apprehension and gloom."

No fly-infested canines, no laughing at a banana peel, and no confusing commercial to Guess what it is for - simply a man who was more successful than I am admitting his pain to himself, to God, and wrote it so others would see that even a Mighty Warrior King struggles. That certainly gives hope to me when I feel powerless to overcome my situation.