“Hey do you have anymore declining points? Asking for a friend.”
“Do you sell calendars with only goats on them? Just asking for a friend.”
“Are you going to finish that milkshake? Asking for a friend.”
I am not going to tell you these sentences have not exited my mouth. In fact these are very few of the times I have used this phrase. For those of you who know me, you are pretty aware of the fact that my phrases go through phases that start very strong and then slowly fade out. It happens to the best of us. Although, this small addition of, “Just asking for a friend”, has been a personal favorite now for quite some time and I think it is a keeper. Simple. Humorous. Just what we aspire to be.
Although, the other day when I attempted this small shot at a joke I was not reaffirmed with laughter. Not even a small chuckle (A blow to self esteem that haunts a person). Instead I was presented with the question, “Why don’t you just ask me yourself?”
I am not going to lie to you, this shook me up a little bit because, well, 1. I was just trying to make someone giggle and 2. I really could have just asked her myself but I thought this way would have a better response to it. Obviously, I was mistaken.
But it did get me thinking - When did we become a generation that doesn’t speak for ourselves?
A generation where we do not take pride in the things we want, even if it is a Chik Fil A milkshake. A generation where we would rather be restricted by the screen of a computer or have our thoughts condensed into 140 characters on Twitter or an Instagram caption rather than have the luxury of hand gestures and really unnecessarily necessary facial expressions.
We almost like the aspect of not speaking for ourselves, outwardly at least. We can send in a tweet like the best of them or write lengthy Instagram comments and captions until our fingers are numb but when it comes to a face to face interaction or an opportunity to tell someone we love something and not get shaken up when they disagree, or the real kicker, ask why - we shy away. We sometimes give into what other people are deeming as the "right" thing to love or the "right" thing to support.
But are they "right"?
I think this phrase, “asking for a friend”, not only makes a pretty funny joke when used right, but also highlights what we do as people when we are looking to test the waters. It is the raising your friend's hand to volunteer for something in elementary school(through high school honestly) of phrases.
We hide behind this "friend" because it is easier to not fully commit ourselves to something we may feel passionately about and to have an escape route if someone does not respond the way we want them to. Or we use this friend because at times the life of another seems to be more attractive than what we are seeing in our own mirror so we believe people will respond better when we do a little name drop. Either way this “friend” is the buffer, the back door, the person we kind of want to be but instead are unconfident in our own strengths.
Instead we just got to simply ask and most importantly not be afraid to defend your opinions!! Courage and bravery is good that is why they give it to the cowardly lion in Wizard of Oz.
Hey, do you like Keke Palmer? Because I personally think 'Bottoms Up' is a banger.