Funniest Home Videos

Why are some of the video clips on the television show America’s Funniest Home Videos so comical? Is it because we’ve done some of the crazy things ourselves or witnessed someone else doing them and wished that we had captured it on video to win the $1 million prize?

I was taught to laugh at myself when I do something silly. The propensity to find humor in mishaps comes from my mother.

Recently, I was visiting Mom when someone mistakenly took our grocery cart. She couldn’t help me find the cart because she was doubled over laughing in the frozen food aisle. Then, at her house, the neighborhood geese took an instant dislike to me and started chasing me through the streets of the neighborhood while she, of course, laughed. I’m so glad my mother taught me how to laugh at life’s humorous situations.

Today in my neighborhood, I witnessed a scene that would have qualified for a funny home video. It was the perfect set-up. The pick-up truck was parked at the low end of a fairly steep driveway. An older woman was sitting about ten feet away from the truck on her motor scooter. I was curious if she intended to ride down the driveway and jump three feet vertically into the truck bed. Then I saw her husband getting a ladder from the garage. Was he really going to bridge the gap from the driveway to the truck with a ladder so that she would have to ride over the rungs into the truck?

My first thought was to grab my phone and start videotaping. Instead, I decided to be considerate and offer neighborly assistance. In unison, they both said they had it under control and didn’t need any help.

I mentioned that I would be glad to be the cinematographer, documenting the feat and sharing the winnings with them. Not appreciating my humor, I got the feeling that they didn’t want an audience, so I kept walking. Later when I passed their house again, I noticed the scooter was in the truck bed and no blood was on the driveway.

So maybe it is best that I was turned down for the gift I offered today, to help load the scooter in the truck, because who knows, if it wouldn’t have worked, I may have done something un-neighborly like laughing.

In Giving,

Robin