At times we all have experienced embarrassing moments, it is one “inevitable” thing that will happen to everyone, at some point in their lives, or at many points for some folks, often directly related to the number of children we raise. Some events are more embarrassing than others, just as there are some people who are more easily embarrassed than others. Personally, I have done so many “dumb” things in my life that I have become somewhat ‘callused’, but only an idiot is beyond embarrassment.
Since we know humor is healthy, I am happy to be spread some cheer by making a few embarrassing events of my own life public knowledge, not that most of them were “secret” anyway, since the very nature of embarrassment generally involves an ’eye witness’ of some; what shall we say? Less than shining moments in our lives. Obviously, at the time of our discomfort we find nothing humorous about the incident, and sometimes we never find the humor it. But there are plenty of embarrassing events that make people smile. I don’t make it a practice of sharing someone else’s discomfort, but only my own, since I don’t feel all that victimized by the things I am willing to reveal.
Most recently, this past summer, I had my 5th wheel lumber trailer behind my 1 ton pick-up truck. At the end of a long day I went to turn the truck around in order to get loaded with lumber, but where I usually make a U-turn there was an old trailer (even older than mine) sitting in my way. I was distracted by the load of slab wood that they had on this old trailer, I recall thinking to myself “someone is going to have a mess, if that thing breaks apart going down the road”, it was seriously overloaded and hanging off the back of the trailer. While I am thinking of the “disaster” that this would make on a highway, I am also in the process of backing my truck up to turn around since I can’t make the U-turn. I was so intent looking at that trailer, I did not even think about what I was doing; UNTIL the back window of my truck came crashing in on top of me! Yes, I had managed to jack-knife my trailer so that it hit the corner of the cab on my pickup and ‘exploded’ the back window. Wouldn’t you know that just at that moment, the sawmill owner happen to be driving by and witnessed the whole thing, of course not knowing what was going on in my mind, that made the whole event very ironic. There is a lesson there somewhere, but it is beyond my ability to articulate it clearly, but something to the effect that we ought to be more concerned about the “disaster” we are about to make, than the one that someone else “might make”.
It is fortunate that many of our “embarrassing moments” happen when no one is around to witness them. It can also be that we happen to “think” no one witnessed something, only to find out at a latter date that there was indeed an eyewitness to some ‘mishap’.
Many years ago I lived in southwestern KY. I had rented some land on which I was raising some cattle. My fence was electric and each day as I checked on the place I would take a fence tester and check this electric fence. On this farm there was an old broken down trailer house that a farm hand lived in, on this particular day there was no sign that old Jim was anywhere around. As I went about my chore of checking the fence, somehow I was not paying very close attention to what I was doing, I put the hot end of the tester on the fence and went to push the ground end into the dirt, however I did not have a proper grip on the ground and when I pushed it into the ground it gave me a ‘shock’ not soon forgotten, I am not sure if it was the electrical shock or the surprise but I jumped a couple feet straight into the air, about like a cat that has had its tail caught in the door!
I had totally forgotten about the incident when a good two weeks later me and old Jim were in the local country store at lunch time. All the local farmers would gather there to get a sliced bologna sandwich and stand around a big pot bellied stove to eat, while catching up on the local gossip. Jim was not much of a talker, but on this day, seeing he had a good crowd of people, he spoke up. “Ernie” he said, “how does that electric fence work?” I was surprised to learn anyone had seen the incident, but old Jim really enjoyed telling everyone that I could, and did, jump 2 feet straight up into the air. It was all in good fun, but also embarrassing to find out “someone was watching”, at least old Jim enjoyed the event, I sure didn’t.
One more electric fence story. This one I can blame on my wife, maybe? It was on that same farm in KY. I had to go all the way to the back of the pasture to work on the fence and wanted my wife to stand by the fencer box to turn the fence on and off at my signal, which was to be the beep of the horn on my truck. When I would blow the horn, she was to either turn the fence on or off, depending on which position it was at the time. I drove to the back of the pasture and saw a spot I wanted to work on, so blew the horn for her to turn the fence off, which she did. I commenced to work on the fence and had to do some rather extensive repair work. In the meantime, I did not paying any attention to what might be taking place on the road going by the farm, but I was concentrating on the job of unwinding some electric fence wire to make the repair, when to my surprise I heard a car horn blow out on the road. It did not dawn on me that my wife would hear a horn blow and do what she was suppose to do at the sound of my truck horn. Another shock! I have another electric fence, but am extra careful about testing it or having a “helper” turn it on and off.
Then there is automobile repairs. Most men who have ever tried to do some of their own repair work, might identify with me in this area. Especially, if they have no more mechanical ability than I do. Now I can do common things, like change oil, tires and such on vehicles. But when it comes to serious things I find it is best to call upon a ‘real mechanic’, I have learned this the hard way. Like when you take apart something that seems not to be working properly and find that the buggers are “spring loaded”! Little parts, springs, odds and ends go flying through the air like insects on a summer night. Then you know, you have to gather up all the parts you can find, put them in a box and take it to a mechanic. If your mechanic is “polite”, or else knows my habits, he will just smile a little and say he will take care of it. But you just know that when the door closes behind you, he is doubled up with laughter. Like I say, at least someone benefits from the dumb things we do.
So the next time you are embarrassed, just think of it as having brought some “cheer” into someone else’s day. I doubt that it helps you complexion, but it might make you feel better.
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