Blond Jokes?

I get hundreds of "Blond Jokes" through the e-mail process and like all ethnic related jokes they are not actually applicable to the whole group being put down. Most of them are the same joke applied to a different ethnic group. As I am married to a very intelligent blond I can attest to the truth of that statement.

So why do we laugh at "ethnic" jokes when we know they are a put down to a whole group of people? First the jokes are often funny and we can't help laughing unless we have really good self-control. Second is that we don't take the time to think about who we might be hurting by accepting the off humor as funny. It is so easy to get caught off guard when we are with a group of people passing just jokes around. This is true for the off color jokes as well.

Jesus said: "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." This holds true for our jocularity as well as our physical deeds. Our words have both the power to bless and to curse and it pays to be careful with what we say as well as what we do.  When you hear a funny joke pay attention to whom is the object of its attention and think about yourself as that person. With the awareness that we might be unintentionally hurting someone by what we say or even by our laughter at an ethnic joke told by someone else and that will help us have our self-control.

A Christians self-control is aided by remembering the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” in any given situation. As we have proclaimed to the entire world that Jesus is our Lord we indeed need to act and speak according to the teachings of Jesus the Christ. If you must tell an ethnic joke then tell it on yourself.