Mr Nobody Made Me Do it
One of my favorite aspects of this blog is the chance to catalog my thoughts and list some of the things that occupied my mind. My children are a central component. Given the age difference it is natural that at this point my son has had the lion’s share of the coverage, but this is not Jacob and Esau, there will be balance.
However until my baby girl really starts to speak we’ll focus on the little man. For those who are curious here are some links to some of my favorites thus far:
My Penis Died
Death- My Son Asked Me Not to Die,
My Son Made Me A Whoopie Cushion
My Son The Comedian- Did Seinfeld Start like this.
Triage For a Goldfish- Resuscitating The Fish
Children
Part of the joy in being a father is discovering life all over again because if you really make yourself a part of your child’s life then you get to live through the things you did a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or eighteenth time. The joy of spinning in circles , blowing bubbles, skipping rocks and so much more is there to be repeated again and again.
This past week I have been reintroduced to an old friend, Mr. Nobody. I don’t know the history of Mr. Nobody, his biography is lost in the sands of time and though he is more powerful than Ozymandias he is a bit of a mystery.
More than 30 years ago a young Jack B. and his friends blamed all sorts of problems and issues on the elusive Mr. Nobody. If a drink was spilled or toys were left out he was to blame. He was the perfect foil, no matter what happened he was a built in excuse. At some point the poor man must have gotten sick of being blamed and he ran away, but to where I have no idea. Maybe he and Salman Rushdie have been shacking up.
In any case, the younger version of myself and I have spent the last couple of days searching high and low for Mr. Nobody because the man has been raising cain. When I got home today my son told me that I might have to punch Mr. Nobody in the nose because he wasn’t being nice to other kids.
That led into a discussion of responsibility for our actions and more importantly learning how to do the right thing even when our friends are not. You see it is happening, the teasing and taunting. The children are old enough to have learned how to pick on each other and that is something that I cannot tolerate.
Mr. Nobody is not the person calling the other children names or telling them that they cannot play with the other kids. As a child I was teased and picked on but I learned very quickly how to deal with it. I found it to be pretty easy to deflect and ignore much of it and for the most part the bullies left me alone, but I remember how it felt and I am just not willing to watch this happen.
So here we are decades later, Mr. Nobody and I, old pals sharing a beer and reminiscing about old times. My son rather enjoyed listening to me lecture my friend. I hope that between that and my little talk he learned something. And now this ramble is over.
Jack's Shack November 9, 2005 at 6:34 am
Sounds right to me.
jg November 9, 2005 at 4:05 am
There was a comic that had a Mr. Nobody type character. I think it was Family Circus.
Jack's Shack November 8, 2005 at 7:54 pm
Kids are something, aren’t they.
Sweettooth120 November 8, 2005 at 4:42 pm
When my daughter was 4, her and everyone in her preschool class suddenly started with Mr. Nobody. She still occassionally refers to him, but I am hoping that soon she will own up and say Miss Natalie.
Terri in PA November 8, 2005 at 2:58 pm
Jack:
My daughter also has a Miss Nobody who does the strangest things sometimes 🙂
Doesn’t our past come back to haunt us when we have little ones?