Bongo Dingo

 

About a month ago, we got a new student.

When the teacher came to bring her class, she told me the student’s name, so I wrote it down, and learned the name.

A couple of weeks after that, Heidi the Librarian came to lunch laughing.

She told the following story.

 

“You know that new student?

I had been calling her what I thought was her name but the other students kept telling me that I was saying her name wrong.

So I pulled her aside and asked her her name.

She said what sounded like Bongo Dingo. 

Thinking that this surely was not her name, 

I asked her again.

Again, it sounded like she said Bongo Dingo. 

So I called her Bongo and, of course, the other students told me that I was saying it wrong.

I sent a distress email to the office with the student’s picture and asked for help clarifying her name.

Ya’ll. Her name is *insert student name*. 

That sounds nothing like Bongo Dingo. 

And now I can’t see her without wanting to call her Bongo Dingo!”

 

As if the story of weren’t funny enough in and of itself,

The student has a unique last name.

We have only one other student with that same last name,

So Heidi thought the students might be related.

When she asked the other kid if she was related to her, 

(She used her real name of course) 

The other kid said no,

That she didn’t know her. 

Turns out,

She’s her aunt . 

 

This whole story makes me laugh.

Heidi was trying to so hard to get the student’s name right, 

But she just couldn’t get it. 

I’m laughing as I write this,

And I chuckle every time I see this student. 

She’s only in kindergarten,

So, assuming she stays at GW, this misunderstanding is going to make me laugh for the next five years.

And I don’t know that that’s a bad thing.

 

I’m reading a book right now that talks about the importance of laughter. 

When they say that laughter is the best medicine,

There is truth to that.

No, laughter cannot heal all sickness and disease,

But it can have a very positive impact on our physical and mental well-being.

In a world that is very serious, 

It’s easy to drown out laughter.

But if we can find things to laugh about, 

If we can lift our spirits for just a moment,

Then we are protesting the darkness that is trying to surround us, 

And those simple acts of protest are a good thing.

 

May you have a good laugh right now. 

And may that laugh lift your spirits and provide you with a much needed stress release today. 

 

Amen.