A Lesson from America’s Funniest People

I’m leafing through my archived documents, half-finished prose and poetry that, for the most part, never saw the light of day (only the light of my own computer screen). Part of me has given up on writing simply because I’m no longer an English major, but the other part of me hangs on for dear life, because I sincerely enjoy writing. I just need to learn how to make it profitable.

So here’s something old I wrote that was fairly recently composed (6 months ago or more), and something I also like:

It was a fleeting moment, a passing image, a bit of pop culture that broke through to show God’s love. It was America’s Funniest People, a rerun no less. We see a small boy singing in a chorus. It looks like a school performance. The boy sits, but jostles his chair and starts snapping his fingers. Above the din of the room and the fading applause, you can hear the boy loudly ask for his dad. “Dad! Dad! (snap snap) Dad! Dad!” In other words, possibly in the only words that children know, “Look at me! Give me all of your attention, completely undivided. Listen to me!”

When the boy has received his father’s attention, the child asks the question all of our religious charades ask in their unique ways – “How am I doin?” You don’t hear a reply from the father, but you can see the reaction of the child. Elation. Jumping out of his seat for joy. The child’s father told him what he only hoped to hear.

The father probably only gave his child a thumbs up. He might have even mouthed the word “Great.” But to the child that was all that was necessary. A simple assertion of doing good. A “yes” of approval to calm the seas of his doubt. “Am I ok by you Dad? I don’t care what these kids beside me think, I just want to know what you think of me. Am I making you proud?”