Jazz musician Miles Davis said, "Do not fear mistakes. There are none." As children, our earliest experiences of humor and comedy came from recognizing mistakes. Mama made a funny face -- that is, one that is out of the ordinary -- and we laugh. Daddy put his shoes on his head, and we laugh. It is amazing that as soon as we start to put together the puzzle pieces of reality, we start to recognize - and laugh at - incongruity! When we begin using words, we begin to rhyme or use nonsense words. (see Dr Seuss!)
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The stronger my sense of humor gets, the more I am able to laugh at myself and my mistakes. I have many embarrassing moments, which stop being embarrassing as soon as I can laugh at myself. I was at a movie theatre in Manhattan one day, waiting for the previews, when a couple in the row in front of me began to unwrap a white powder in a paper napkin. "Do you want some?" he said to his date. And a stranger to his left said, "May I have a little of that?" Suddenly, a sense of outrage rushed to my head like champagne bubbles and, drunk with indignation, I decided to be a Drug Free Citizen and sound the alert. In my loudest, authoritative, James Earl Jones voice I declared, "I can't believe you are passing that out right in public view. I've had enough of this." (In my defense, drug deals had just started to infiltrate my own apartment building stoop and I had had enough.)
"What? What?" he replied. "Did you think this was cocaine? The popcorn needs salt."
Ha! I shrunk into my seat as the whispers of what had transpired undulated through the crowd like the "wave" at a football game.
About that time my friend arrived fresh from the snack bar with Coke and popcorn. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Nothing," I replied as I stuffed my mouth with popped kernels, "the popcorn needs salt."
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Well, without mistakes I would have no stories to tell. What can I say? I keep myself amused.
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