Bad Jokes!

We all have heard jokes that start with something like: “A buxom blonde, a Jewish priest and a Native American enter a bar…” Depending on the punch line, we can label the comedian as racist, sexist or a number of other negative “ists”.

Well it’s time I try my hand at a few bad jokes, but hopefully only my jokes will receive negative reviews and not my character.

A White male, a Black male and a single person go into a certain place, who is the last one to be acknowledged? Answer - If the certain place is a local church, the answer is the single person. It is no laughing matter that when it comes to highly esteemed appointments in many of our local churches; active members who happen to also be single are the last ones to be considered.

A White female, a Black female and a single female (of any race) go into a certain place, who is the first one to be bombarded with opinions on what it means to be whole? Answer - If that certain place is the church, the answer again is the single person. One of the first things well-meaning people will say to a single person is either: “You can be whole without being married” (as if single people need to be reminded of this fact) or “You are wrong to base your sense of “wholeness” on finding a romantic partner.” The second statement forgets that many married people often feel “completed” by their husband or wife. My point? Wholeness is a not dependent upon one’s marital status. Instead, the quality of one’s relationship to God is the main factor in how “whole” one is. So whoever you are out there, stop giving demeaning and inaccurate pronouncements on wholeness to single people unless you are also going to dump that same mess on married folks.

A married person, a single person and a homosexual person go into a certain place, who is the first one to be given relationship advice? Answer - If the certain place is the family reunion, it’s the single person. If the certain place is the church, it is also the single person. In many of our churches, the married person is assumed to “get it” when it comes to knowing how to sustain a long-term relationship. In many of these same churches, the homosexual is assumed to “not get it” about sustaining spiritually “approved” relationships and this is often based on many misunderstood and misinterpreted Bible scriptures. But as for the single person in many of these same churches, the “obvious” assumption is that when it comes to sustaining long-term romantic relationships, they do understand what it takes. Hence, single people are often bombarded with advice (in my opinion, most of this advice is bad) on how to hook a man or a woman.

I have a double challenge for you the reader.

• The first challenge is to use the format employed above to come up with your own version of bad jokes that involve singles. Share them with me and I will share them in the blog. (If you don’t want me to share them in the blog, then please don’t send them to me.)

• The second challenge is for all of us to be more sensitive to how we view other singles. Let’s be more of an advocate for each other. Let’s treat other singles with respect. This includes those singles we date, work with, workout with, encounter in the Wal-Mart parking lot (See “Da-Yum!” http://mooskm.blogspot.com/2008/08/da-yum.html ) or attend church with. Finally, let’s stop passing on to other singles all that bad advice we get on how to “escape” from the so-called prison of singleness.