The Importance of Whimsy

My day job is at an academic medical center where we do important work.

Very. Important. Work.

Some of my colleagues helped find a treatment for Ebola. People from all over the world come to our transplant center. We’ve done cutting edge work in robotic surgery and are a leader in using the latest technology to train healthcare professionals. We host one of a few Federally funded centers to improve the health and safety of agricultural workers including migrant farmer workers.

Because we take ourselves very seriously, I often get the side-eye when I don’t reign in my naturally facetious nature.

I live in a lovely older neighborhood where people take their yards very seriously.

Very. Seriously.

The lawns are manicured plots of uniform green with the occasional flowering bush or bunch of day lilies pushed up along a fence or foundation. My neighbors gather at the end of driveways and cluck their tongues at the lawns that don’t pass muster.

Because lawns are serious business, I’m usually the recipient of that tongue clucking. I have a moral and philosophical objection to spraying cancer causing chemicals on the ground and mutilating grass for the sake of appearances.

More people are taking themselves very seriously. They seem to think there are two ways in the world; the wrong way and their way. Umbrage and outrage at those who see the world differently appears to be their mission in life. Us or them. Right or wrong. No shades of gray. No room for differences.    

One antidote to all this seriousness is whimsy. Finding shapes of animals in the clouds. Imagining tree fairies. Impromptu sock puppets. Stomping in puddles. Making snow angels.  

I’m not saying that there aren’t serious issues that need our attention. It’s no exaggeration to say that we’re dealing with problems that threaten our country and our planet. Surely we can pay attention and be involved without losing our ability to see humor in life, to be silly, to laugh at ourselves.

Whimsy is a necessary component of multi-dimensional, compassionate, tolerant people that can contribute something other than umbrage and outrage. Whimsy makes it acceptable to be a fallible human.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking my whimsical self to buy a garden gnome. I have to decide between one that’s smoking a bong and one that’s sitting on a toilet with a cell phone.