Really anyone with a disability or a cultural unnorm. I'll make fun of people for being gay. I'll make fun of people for being weird. I'll make fun of people for liking the Patriots. "Oh, you're such a PRICK!" you might be thinking to yourself right now. But let me explain why.
First of all, I don't walk up to complete strangers and say these kinds of things. I'll only make fun of you if I know you. But still, why would I make fun of people who are supposedly my friends for being different? And there's the key word. No, not 'different.' We're looking at 'friend.'
Right now especially, the world we live in is in a state of hyper-sensitivity. Everyone is offended by everything especially when it has nothing to do with them. Most people don't have the ability to step back. I don't know about you but when I grew up the way two people bonded was finding the best way to make fun of each other. "Oh, I'm so hungry and you have so much acne your face looks like a pizza." "Yeah well at least it doesn't take two of my little girl hands to hold a glass of water, Billy." Events like that always worked to increase your wit and there was a respect to the types of things you could come up with. So what does that have to do with people with a disability or otherwise 'different?' Well pretty much nothing. Because they aren't different at all.
My best friend and fellow Odyssey writer, Zachary Hastings can attest to me making fun of him on many occasions. Somehow we're still good friends though. So does he just take the abuse because he's lonely or something? Of course not! Here's what's going on. People that have some sort of disability (or abnormality dictated by our culture for whatever reason) don't want to be treated differently. Zach doesn't mind a joke because I'm not being malicious and I'm certainly not demeaning him.
Yeah, sometimes we experience things that suck. He's stuck in a wheelchair. Big whoop. He can still accomplish so many things, that almost nothing in the world is hampering him. So if the wheelchair isn't a big deal to him, why should it be a big deal to everyone else? He doesn't want to be pitied, he wants to be a human being like the rest of us. And that goes for anybody who's seen different for any reason.
There is a huge difference between humor and derogatory remarks. It is okay to be anything that you are. It is okay to be any race, any religion, it is okay to live with a disability, it is okay to like boys or girls or both, or silly football teams. It is 100 percent okay to be YOU! But you have to be comfortable with it. I know its not that easy, but by allowing humor and friendship to address what you consider to be different, I think being able to feel like you fit in, is a little bit easier.
Hey, maybe I'm wrong and I really am just a prick. I'd much rather have my friends make fun of me all the time for things that make me who I am, in places where I feel safe with people I can trust, so that when the next time someone I don't know or don't like tries to verbally assault me—it doesn't bother me as much. As opposed to the alternative where you always feel like you're different and don't belong and any small attention to that thing that makes you feel different and insecure will cause you to sink deeper into that whole of angst and self-loathing. I choose humor by friend. Let the people who care about you help you accept yourself. They will always look out for you. And I will always look out for you too. Because I do care. I just probably have some weird, backwards way of doing it.
