Am I alone on this?

Today on the rabbitroom.com there was a post regarding playing a funny song for some friends and getting nothing as a reaction. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I've been a fan of Weird Al since the days of Eat It. I played the 45 of Like a Surgeon bordering on 1,000 times and also the B-side, Slime Creatures from Outerspace. A touching tribute to the struggles of relationships in a strange land...ish.

I've given up on trying to share Weird Al music. I laugh greatly and then get a sympathetic smile from the person I play it for.

Basically that awkward feeling that whatever you just said was completely missed by everyone. You're the only one who got the joke. You're the only one who caught the point of the story. The words are getting in the way of the point your making.

I find this happens for 2 reasons: ignorance & magnitude. An inside joke or a running gag depends on the audience having a knowledge of the previous events. Everyone else is on the outside. Or if the cultural reference or word play is unknown to the audience - expect the deer in the headlights look or at best a sympathy chuckle. Give the background & you receive an "oh I see now" but the moment is past.

The other side is an idea so big that words fail. The words are darts tossed at the target on the wall. Describing a rainbow or a sunset. Anything that evokes feelings will make it difficult to describe. Explaining why you like church, sports, or your favorite book. It is difficult to do with a few sentences. Big concepts of feelings (joy, anger, frustration) will often fall back to examples. Why you like your house will revert to describing objects or events.

A third option is it's just you. I like Weird Al, Becky doesn't. I love ultimate frisbee and can blather about it greatly (oh, yeah. the last 3 posts). This is beyond personality.

Basically you are knit in the womb with certain preferences, abilities, joys and sadnesses in life. It's how you are made. It becomes humbling to realize God made you & prepared you for certain things. "God made you special, and he loves you very much." Bob the Tomato. It's even more humbling (or especially humbling) because you see how your selfishness gets in the way of your maximum potential for God.

That's in one sense the paradox of the gospel. You can be proud and rejoice in the fact and the knowledge that God made you. He made you special for certain things that his providential love will weave with others for a great good. You are also humbled, beyond humbled wrecked with the knowledge that your sin creates a barrier from being useful. The freeing power of the gospel is that you are washed & ready for use.

So yes I am alone, and no I am not.