Negative Humor #1

Humor is always meant with the best of intentions, but sometimes it goes too far and hurts those who are either telling the joke or people around them. 

When I was a freshman in high schools, I was apart of the varsity softball team, which included 5 other 9^th graders, which meant we made up 50% of the team..  Sometimes with sports in high school, a hierarchy based on grade levels is present, but since my team was made up significantly by the youngest, we had a fairly even playing field. When we would stretch and warm-up before practice we would crack jokes and tell stories, which made for a very light-hearted mood on the team. There was one girl in particular, Kelly, who would continually tell us stories that just didn’t have an ending, but it was hilarious to us. She would say, “One day, I was sleeping and my brother came in and took a picture of me,” and ….. ?  It kind of became a team joke, always bringing it up in funny situations because she told these stories daily.  When she would tell us stories or her stories would be repeated, so would laugh just like the rest of us, however, one day she just had had it and started crying, which none of us saw come.  Our intentions were completely innocent, because we just like cracking jokes and staying happy, but we didn’t considering how she felt, even when she put a mask on when she would talk and laugh. 

After this we never repeated her stories again, because although we still thought they were funny, we weren’t willing to lose a friendship with her. We wanted her to be happy just like the rest of us.