A bit behind

It seems that wireless Internet is a bit of a luxury here in Cairns, and it sounds as though it will be in in Sydney, as well ($27 for a 24 hour period). Consequently, posting might not be quite as frequently as expected and pictures will come slower, too.

Nevertheless, below is a post I wrote on the plane from Honolulu to Cairns and then forgot about:

There is something about being in Hawaii that brings out my good side, a side of my personality that not many on the mainland get to see. It is, really, only my immediate family and my close friends who see this side of me, for reasons that may become more clear, and may not.

I am grateful to the Lord for letting my fellow pilgrims see this side of me, and to such a great extent. Some of the kids have been rather surprised and caught off guard by my goofiness, that at times borders on the simply hilarious. They have been taken aback at how much fun I can be, thinking me previously to be serious all of time.

There is a line in one of Rich Mullins’ songs that goes, “And if you laugh I know I can make you like me, ‘cause when I laugh I can be a lot of fun. But If we can’t I know that is frightening, so just hold on, just hold on.”

Life without laughter is indeed frightening, and almost unbearable. But with laughter life is filled with joy and purpose and meaning and in this way becomes serious, through laughter.

Throughout my college years my friends frequently told me that they could never quite be sure if I was “six [years of age] going on sixty, or sixty going on six.” One minute they found me studious, solemn and serious, and the next they found me playful, laid back and, well, goofy. I took this then as a high compliment, and I still take it so today.

These two seemingly opposite aspects of my personality have easily been seen during these past few blessed days in Hawaii when I easily adapted to the culture of the island, a culture that seems to fit my personality and enhance it more than the culture of the mainland, in much the same way as does the laidback culture of Italy.

Not a few of the pilgrims expressed to have witnessed an unexpected side to me and that they now realize that cannot judge a person by the way they see him “at work,” as we have discussed here before. Because when I celebrate the Holy Mass I am solemn and serious they did not think that I can also be as much fun as the next guy, and often enough even more fun.

The ancient Greeks spoke of the eutrapelos, the “man at play.” It was this playing man that they took to be the epitome of humanity, a notion that, most sadly, we have all but lost today.

The eutrapelos looked at life seriously, but not too seriously. He was a balance between a boor (who is too serious too often and does not laugh) and a buffoon (who does not know when to stop laughing and be serious) and in this way was a man of great virtue. This is, I think, something of what my friends meant when the remarked that I was “either six going sixty or sixty going on six.”

In no way do I mean to say that I have reached the level of the eutrapelos; indeed I have not. If I had, the pilgrims would not have been so surprised – and very happy – to see the goofy side of me.