Like anyone else would do when they are bored out of their minds I went on Reddit to browse their content. I had watched a few videos from the "Game Grumps" involving anti-jokes (You know, the ones where Arin does the Yoda voice and jokes about Vader buying his shoes at the "Darth Mall".) Anyway, without any further ado, here is the "Pink Penguin."

Johnny turns five and his father asks him what he wants for his birthday. "I want a pink penguin, I want a pink penguin!" Johnny says. So his dad scrounges through all the pet shops in his hometown and can't find any. So he gives him a tricycle as a gift. Then Johnny turns ten and again his father asks him what he wants for his birthday. And again Johnny says "I want a pink penguin, I want a pink penguin!" Now Johnny's dad searches all the neighboring larger cities, even visiting a few zoos, trying to find a pink penguin. Obviously no luck, so he returns and gives Johnny a mountain-bike. Then Johnny turns sixteen, and his dad asks him what he wants for his birthday. And again Johnny replies with: "A pink penguin, a pink penguin!" So his dad searches throughout the entire country; again, obviously, no luck. So he returns and gives Johnny a brand new car as a gift. Then Johnny turns 25 and his dad asks him what he wants for graduating college, and again Johnny says that he wants a pink penguin. Now his dad looks through the entire continent: he goes to Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina. No luck. So he returns in time for Johnny's graduation and he gives him a boat as a gift. A few years later and Johnny turns 35, this time his dad is way ahead of him and has spent the whole year looking all over the world for a pink penguin, he's gone to China, Japan, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Australia. But alas, no luck, so he went ahead and bought Johnny his own private jet. Now, Johnny is turning 50, and his dad is back from the hospital after an accident he had while abroad, he hasn't even had time to think about his birthday. But when he visits his dad, expecting the old man to look downtrodden and dour, he finds him with a big grin on his face. In the corner of the room he sees...A pink penguin.

"I found him during an expedition to Antarctica!" The dad says. "Oh dad," says Johnny, "it's all I've ever wanted!"
So Johnny walks over to the pink penguin to pet him. But all of a sudden the penguin bites him! He even draws blood! And he keeps pecking at him! So Johnny runs and he jumps on his old trike and takes it to the shed, where he takes out his bike and rides it to the parking garage where he keeps his old car, he takes the car to the docks and runs to his boat, he takes his boat to the seaside airport where he keeps his private jet and without thinking of take-off procedures he takes it into the air.
He's safe, or so he thinks...
He turns and to his left is the pink penguin, and you know what the penguin tells him?
Absolutely nothing, because penguins can't speak...

Now, before you toss your mouse at the screen and freak about getting trolled, consider this. Sometimes in life, there is no payoff. Life isn't fair. If it were, Chaucer wouldn't have died before finishing his works, Nickleback might have turned out to be a decent band and the Old man from 'The Old Man In The Sea' wouldn't have had half of his catch eaten by sharks. Pessimistic? Perhaps. But, what if there was an underlying shred of hope here?

When I think of this anti-joke, the first thing that comes to mind is the Myth of Synopsis. Sysophis was an individual cursed by the Gods to roll a giant boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down again and again for all eternity. Johny's father is Sysophis throughout the anti-joke. Even when he manages to give Johny what he wants, Johnny's "gift" literally comes back to bite him. So what can be learned from this? After all, I've already stated that there is no payoff. Well, therein lies the beauty of it all.

Albert Camus used the Myth of Sysophys as his basis for Absurdism . Absurdism is the philosophy that humans, "Struggle with an internal, never-ending quest for purpose and fulfillment in life." (Van Bryan-2018) Camu argues that "life" or rather the "universe", has no purpose and as a result, humanity's search for meaning is absurd. Camus thought process devels into two different schools of thought involving the human condition: Absurdism and Existentialism .

Put simply, Absurdism argues, "When life gives you lemons you make lemonade." Once we see that institutions and faith are a means of control, we liberate ourselves with the knowledge that searching for meaning is no longer necessary. It argues that we don't need to search for meaning because there is none. Absurdism is more of a contradiction than Existentialism. While it acknowledges that the universe has no meaning, it encourages us to rebel against meaninglessness by taking advantage of what life brings our way.

Existentialism amounts to, " life is what you make of it." It stresses the need for individuals to create their own sense of meaning within themselves. It encourages us to utilize free will, personal responsibility and awareness to make our lives meaningful.

So how does this tie into the pink penguin? That depends on which side of the spectrum you're on.

If you're an Absurdist, you might assume the entire joke is nothing more than a means to waste someone's time or get a good laugh. If You're an Existentialist you might assume that the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for. Perhaps if Jonny appreciated his other gifts and stopped insisting on the pink penguin it would have saved him from discomfort and disappointment in the first place.

What is your stance? Let me know in the comments below.