Fun Stuff

We have problems of all kinds
that require open hearts and minds
to love and think and work together,
if we’re to make the world better. 

So here’s to crazies. Misfits. Rebels.
Making outside-the-box trouble.
Thinking different. Challenging views.
For courage to change is how we do. 

And here’s to the cautious. Stabilizers.
Careful inside-the-box analyzers.
Thinking deeply. Defending rules.
For wisdom and restraint are useful tools. 

Can we imagine the upward shift
if all were uplifted in their gifts?
Can we picture a new revolution,
where all resolve to be the solution? 

© Nels Ross

How can we defy gravity
and spread a little joy?
Beyond jokes and joviality,
what gifts can we employ?

Maybe serving, creativity,
discovering, advising,
teaching, hospitality,
training, organizing?

Could living with vitality,
when all is said and done,
come from our plurality,
and out of many, one?

Does this eventuality
seem an impossible end?
Wishful spirituality?
Come believe with me, friend.

© Nels Ross

With all our differences and gaffes,
imagine if we learn to LAUGH:
Listen, Affirm, and Understand,
with Grace and Humor the best we can.

That is…

Listen for the common ground.
Affirm the good. (It can be found.)
Understand other points of view.
Show Grace to those who have no clue. ツ

Gracious Humor is also wise,
as we can ALL be clueless at times.
Let’s strive to poke fun at all sides,
with fair jokes and equal jibes.

Yes, LAUGH can help us disagree,
while upholding our shared humanity.
So here’s to different ways of seeing,
and becoming better humor beings!

© Nels Ross

And God said, "Let there be laughter,
joyful noises now and hereafter.
Let there be funny sounds of all sorts—
chuckles, chortles, titters, and snorts."

Thus we have giggles and guffaws
to cope with all our fumbles and flaws,
lift our spirits, ease our pain,
relate to others, and keep us sane.

We can choose how to use this gift—
abuse or amuse, put down or uplift,
make walls or bridges, build or destroy,
include or exclude, bring sorrow or joy.

A glimpse of heaven? What do we spy
in laughing faces and twinkling eyes?
Some may call this irreverent or delirious.
They just may be a little too serious!

© Nels Ross

We see it overused and abused,
Only to excuse fleeting ways.
"Live in the moment. Now.
Once." Is that seizing the day?

We gain momentum in moments
Only when now and next align.
Live in the moment and look ahead,
Once and again, over time.

We add meaning to momentum
Only with an "other" key –
Live to love and serve others,
Once "you" evolves to "we."

We Only Live Once? #WOLO?
Only the challenge is now…
Live with this new heart and mind,
Once grace reminds us how.

© Nels Ross

Tribute to Andrew Sears Barden
(12/18/72 – 10/8/17)
by Nels Ross

Andrew was my lifelong friend and instigation— I mean, inspiration for my work in edu-tainment. The celebration of his life was held at Casowasco, the Christian camp where we developed many of our skills and antics. There was a colorful balloon arch over the chapel entrance. I shared funny stories of our misadventures. Tears of joy mixed with tears of grief. One friend said, “I’m not sure if I should say this, but that put the ‘fun’ in funeral.” Ha! Andrew wouldn’t have had it any other way. He modeled the joy found in humor, creativity, service, and faith.

The Joy of Humor

I met my “brother from another mother” while still in the womb, as our moms were pregnant at the same time. At his parents’ 50th anniversary party, we shared that we first played together under tables in our diapers. He quipped, "We were what, 12 years old? Do you still wear yours?" I responded, "Depends!" He was genuinely funny. And not always on purpose. When we were kids, he’d pour a heaping bowl of cereal and then add milk. Predictably, cereal would spill onto the table. Every time. I asked, "Why fill it so full?" He’d just grin and wipe his chin, already moving on to something else. That was Andrew. He wanted a big bowl of life!

The Joy of Creativity

His humor and creativity often inspired nutty ideas: “We should light these on fire... and throw them at each other... and ride unicycles… with the circus!” Even nuttier, we actually did these things and more. He prompted touring together with the nonprofit The Circus Kingdom, as well as co-founding the performing arts company In Jest, Inc.. Though he later moved away and on to other things, we still worked together at times. A few months before his passing, he got us a gig at the wedding celebration for the daughter of the CEO of Nike, where we “sold” him The World’s Most Fabulous Sneaker and did a fire act with the wedding couple – all because of Andrew’s playful and creative thinking.

The Joy of Service

Two days after his memorial service, for some reason I opened up to a relative stranger about losing him. She offered condolences and then said something I’ll never forget: “Remember, as you continue your work and bring joy to others, he lives through you.” How powerful! With every good word or deed that we receive and pay forward, the person who shared that kindness lives through us. Now, I encourage others to experience this joy, and every event I do is a tribute to Andrew whether I mention him or not.

The Joy of Faith

Andrew respected the tradition of Kriya Yoga and Paramahansa Yogananda, who believed in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Yogananda said this about death:

We would not be human if we did not miss loved ones. When a dear one dies, instead of grieving unreasonably, realize that he has gone on… Rejoice that he is free.
–PY

Our real self, the soul, is immortal. We may sleep for a little while in that change called death, but we can never be destroyed. We exist, and that existence is eternal. The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost.
–PY

We can grieve reasonably, in the face of death. Many traditions also affirm that we can rejoice, in time, when souls are lost to waters of joy:

From joy people are born; for joy they live; in joy they melt at death.
–The Bhagavad Gita

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
–Psalms 16:11

Within my soul I possess the unconquerable, unchangeable, ever new bliss of God. O divine silent Laughter, be enthroned beneath the canopy of my countenance and smile through my soul.
–The Light of Smiles, by Yogananda

Amen.