When I was in high school, I was walking around downtown Princeton with my friends joking and laughing and I walked right into a light pole. I don’t remember whether or not I hurt myself, but I do remember being extremely embarrassed. My friends, of course found the whole incident highly entertaining and tortured me for the rest of the day about it.
Years later, I tried to hop up the post office steps three at a time in a hurry and misjudged the last one and fell flat on my face right in front of the doors. My face was very red as I tried to restore dignity to my misstep with an “oops” to the man who saw me fall like a tree smack dab at his feet. The shocked fellow asked me if I was okay and when I responded yes and hurried inside in horror wondering just who else had observed my slip up, I am sure he chuckled a bit.
The reason I am sharing these moments on Earth is because of a recent news story that seems to be growing bigger and faster than the magic beans in Jack in the Beanstalk. A few weeks ago, a lady in a shopping mall was walking along and texting at the same time. She walked right into the low wall of the mall’s water fountain and fell in for a quick dip - phone, bags, purse...the whole kit and kaboodle as the saying goes. She rebounded and was up and out in moments. She must have been mortified. (I know I would have been). Next thing she knew, her fall was posted on YouTube and getting hits faster than Muhammad Ali’s opponent in a boxing ring. The news ran the story all across the United States and Canada. Her fall had become an international sensation.
Me, personally, I would have kept my mouth shut about the fact that it was me and said absolutely nothing except maybe to a few of my closest friends and family. This woman decided to turn her fall (which was the result of her own stupidity) into a money grab and moment in the limelight. Now the security guard was fired for posting the video and the lady has retained a lawyer. Come on! I have to say if I was one of them and I had just witnessed the fall and knew she wasn’t hurt I would have laughed my butt off and probably posted it on YouTube too. It is just too funny not to share.
The lady needs to lighten up a bit. She didn’t get hurt...pride doesn’t count, especially when it is not anyone’s fault, but your own. Those security guards have given people all over the world some serious laughs. You can’t help, but laugh when you see it. It’s just funny. I know it is at the expense of someone else, but it is what it is. Laughing at someone who gets hurt or who is purposely embarrassed is quite different and not okay, but come on. We have all done something embarrassing and become the butt of a joke or two. Should we all sue?—or just maybe after, we can laugh about it too.