Handling Humiliation with Humor

When something incredibly embarrassing happens to you, what do you do?

Take Jennifer Lawrence, who tripped and fell on the steps on her way up to the stage to accept her Academy Award for best actress earlier this year.

When she was asked much much later about what went through her mind when it happened, she replied: “A bad word that I can’t say… that starts with F.” But if you went back and watched her go through that fateful fall, you wouldn’t think that she had thought that at all (hey, that rhymed!) because she handled it oh so gracefully and didn’t look mortified like anyone else would have been in her place (I know I would have).

And then in the interview that followed the show when she was thrown questions about that incident, she made light of what would have been a very embarrassing situation by cracking jokes at her own expense. I admired her reaction so much that I wanted to give her a standing ovation like all the Academy Awards guests did. You can watch her interview below:

My favorite part:

Interviewer: The fall on the way up to the stage –
Jennifer: – was that on purpose? Yes. Absolutely.
Interviewer: – what happened?
Jennifer: What do you mean, what happened? Look at my dress. I tried to walk upstairs in this dress. That’s what happened.

Now me, I commit embarrassing gaffes quite a lot.

Like that time in high school when we played dodgeball in the backfield and I was so intent on dodging the ball that I failed to dodge a freshly dug compost pit and fell into it.

And that time I got off a jeepney and it started running when I wasn’t off yet and I jumped, landing on one knee in the middle of La Purisima street, and I was in my college school uniform (white blouse tucked into a pencil cut skirt).

And that time my friends and I were walking in a line into our seats in the dark cinema house and I was in front of them when I suddenly disappeared from their sight, only to pop back into view a few seconds later. I had tripped and fallen down.

And that time my stiletto heel slipped into a crack and caused me to fall down on the sidewalk with my purse and grocery bags strewn all around me. I was hurt so badly that I couldn’t stand up for so long that three different sets of people passed by and asked me if I was okay and offered to help but I was so embarrassed that I insisted I was okay and politely refused their assistance. When I finally managed to stand up, I saw that I had a couple of bloody knees and had to find a clinic.

Now normally, when these things happen to me, I get so embarrassed that I try to squish my humiliation by jumping right up and acting like nothing happened in the hopes that maybe the people who witnessed it would forget it too. Yeah, right. As if.

But JLaw’s approach is so much better! And I had a chance to use it soon after.

One fine afternoon in the office, everyone was hard at work on their reconciliations, furrows browed with utmost concentration. Nobody was talking and the only sound you could hear was the quiet hum of the airconditioners and the furious tap-tapping of keyboards.

It was early afternoon so I was feeling kind of sleepy, so I thought I needed to listen to some upbeat music to perk me up. I took out my earphones, plugged it into my phone and hit the play button on my iTunes – only for it to blare out loud at the highest possible volume. Turns out my earphone had not been plugged in completely!

All heads swiveled towards my direction to find the source of the noise, and I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks and I just wanted the floor to to swallow me whole.

I heard my seat mate snort and try to hide his laughter, and that was when a light bulb went on in my head.

“I’m so sorry guys,” I addressed everyone loudly. “I did that on purpose. I wanted to get your attention and also make sure you weren’t sleeping.” I flashed a grin and everyone started laughing out loud.

If you can’t beat them, join them. 😉

“Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.”

—;<@
This post is part of the A to Z Challenge, a blog hop that goes through the alphabet for all the days of April except Sundays. I have decided to go with the theme of Alliterations.