Bitter and Sweet....the taste of Coco

I try to be a positive person, I really do. I think most people do, except for those who don't. That is the most profound thing you are going to read in this entire essay.

If you were to ask me to characterize the fellow Coco fans with whom I have been "cyber-hanging," I would say they are also pretty positive. At times angry, frustrated, and possibly disillusioned, but always with good humor and enough optimism to make their words more inspiring than anything else. We are down but not out! We have been slighted, but we will again have our day!! It is all in good fun, all within the common goal of trying to make the best of a bummer situation.

If you were then to ask me to more specifically define the over-all temperature of the group, say, to comment on the social awareness factor, I would not hesitate to say that I feel the Coco-nuts to be compassionate, intelligent, well-reasoned, and ready to help where help is need. I have personally read thousands of offers to assist Jay Leno move to a new country. If that is not helpful, then what is?

There have been individuals, however, who have felt compelled to drop by our little Coco-munity to offer up information they are afraid we have missed. Little things like Conan O'Brien is just a celebrity, and a rich one at that, and we should feel ashamed for paying him so much attention. They let us know that there was an earthquake in Haiti, there are hungry children in our own communities, there is a need for donations of blood and money and time and here we are sitting around bemoaning the loss of a TV personality. For shame!! How can we be SO shallow??

I am very glad these people take the time to drop by - my gosh, do you know that for minutes at a time I sometimes forget that the world can be a crappy place? You would think it would be more in the forefront of my mind, what with the community volunteer work I do. And the fact that I work in a poverty-level school district in a town hard hit by the recession. Oh, and that the very "I'm With Coco" website I am wasting my time on is itself raising money for Haiti through the sale of awesome merchandise (some of which is making its way to my home as I type! Wheee!) No, I should hang my head in shame for being so short-sighted. I am a bad, bad, person.....

Okay, enough of that. All sarcasm aside (and that is a hard concept for me) I have to say that I wonder about these people a lot more than I listen to their "message." What compels a person to inform another person (or in this case persons, and almost a million at that) that the small things that bring joy to otherwise chaotic lives are "bad"....That someone who seeks out a little humor and friendship should be ashamed? Who are these people, these harbingers of harshed mellows? Do they ever laugh? Do they allow themselves the occasional silly moment? Do they know the delight a simple whoopie cushion can bring to an otherwise solemn occasion? Have they ever hung their bare buttocks out of a window in the middle of winter, just for the sheer joy of it?? Is life for them all about "should" and "ought to" and "propriety?" What about "What the hell?" What about having a sense of humor?

As far as I can see, anything you can find in this crazy hazy world of ours....anything you can grasp on to as the waters of life go crashing by....any little thing that can make you happy, make you laugh, make you want to get your ass out of bed in the morning....HOLD ON TO IT! Don't let go!! It doesn't matter if it is the music you hear, the art that you make, places you visit, friends who make you smile....or an outrageously funny and inspiring "TV Person" who seems to be able to galvanize umpteen viewers with amazing and kind words....Whatever joy can be had in this life SHOULD be had. There. I used the word "should". It doesn't just belong to the high-and-mighty "Pious Polly's" of the world. (But if it did, I would use it anyway. That is just the kind of degenerate I am!)