by Tony Thomas
“When you care enough to send the best” has been Hallmark’s motto for as long as I can remember. But according to the mayor of Topeka, Kan., Hallmark stepped over the line of good humor by poking fun of the residents who live in his fair city.
Bill Bunten, Topeka’s mayor, wasn’t amused when he heard about the new Hallmark card that bears the title “CSI: Topeka.” The card refers to popular television dramas about forensics experts who investigate crimes set in Las Vegas, Miami and New York.
The card in question features two people standing over a corpse, with one saying, “Looks like he was bored to death.”
Inside the card is the message, “Hope your birthday is anything but dull.”
That’s funny. Right?
Maybe not. Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Bunten found it offensive, and he added: “It’s probably drawn up by somebody from West Virginia who hasn’t been here.”
Perhaps the mayor has just cause for the crimp in his shorts, but why insult the citizens of West Virginia? According to John Denver, West Virginia is almost heaven. Besides, the author of the cartoon grew up in Kansas (Hallmark is holding his identity in confidence) and maybe the mayor ought to take his cues from him and learn to laugh at himself.
Ashlee Simpson walked off the set of Saturday Night Live, embarrassed because she got caught lip-syncing. She also got booed out of the stadium at the Orange Bowl. Instead of whining, she resurrected her career, went back on Saturday Night Live, and poked fun at herself. And by the way, it wasn’t long before “I Am Me” became the No. 1 hit.
When President Clinton left office some of his cronies thought it would be funny to lift all the Ws from the keyboards of every computer in the White House. When the new president learned of the hoax, he roared in approval.
And why not? President Clinton paid him the ultimate compliment with that parting swipe and that’s what Mayor Bunten ought to learn. You endear yourself to others when you develop the ability to laugh at your foibles.
During the first century, the Apostle Paul preached in Miletus and he left Titus there to bring order out of chaos. Paul warned Titus in a letter that, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12).
While every Cretan was not at fault, that was their reputation. So Titus went about his business of elevating the standards of Cretan culture so that the reputation would eventually pass away.
Montgomery County is known as the divorce capital of Indiana. Although a popular axiom, it’s not exactly the truth. The year our family moved into the county there was one more marriage performed than divorces granted, a statistic almost equal to the national average.
John Denver also sang about another notorious place. But Toledo, Ohio, embraced the humor. Why? Because Denver “spent a week there one day.”
That’s still funny.
• Tony Thomas is a church pastor, a high school basketball coach and author of “A Smidgeon of Religion.” He can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com.
