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Humpty Dumpty is a rather odd name for an egg. It is rather strange to give eggs names, but it worked great in writing a memorable poem. I recall being drawn to the poem as a young child by the sound of the egg’s name. It was fun to listen to. It was fun to say.
The poem in its entirety read:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
When my mother read the poem to me, she did so in a singing happy voice. I couldn’t figure out why. Surely this was a tragic tale to the extreme.
I grew to believe Humpty Dumpty was a cautionary tale to prevent difficulties, and a guide for what to do when things go hopelessly wrong.
Anytime you place an easily movable object at some height, there is a potential accident waiting to happen. For example, when I was first learning to drive, I was quite interested in my father taking me out for driving lessons. When my father bought a Volkswagen with a manual transmission, I had an opportunity to learn a new skill. Before giving me a lesson in shifting, my father thought it would be good if I painted the rusting pole that supported the basket ball hoop and backboard on the edge of the driveway. The way I saw it, my father should never have left the car parked next to the pole. The way he saw it, I should have been more aware of balancing the paint can on the backboard supports. An open can precariously balanced on thin slats was not such a great idea. In conclusion, I never learned how to drive vehicles with manual transmissions.
When I was a child both of my parents repeatedly advised me to move my beverage further away from the table’s edge. Now that I am in my 60’s, it is my wife who reminds me of this practical wisdom.
The take home message here: It is always easier to prevent something from falling down then it is to clean it up and/or repair the damage.
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Growing up, I learned from the examples around me that it was a woman’s role to scream when something falls down, cry when it brakes, and express appreciation when a man fixes it. Some of the sting of the scream from being told “You shouldn’t have put it there!” can be taken out if you can make something that fell down work again.
From the examples around me I learned, it is mainly men who have to experience the heart ache of almost being able to fix something they broke and having the joy of it getting it going again completely dashed by finding a part that must have some function in keeping the thing going didn’t get put back together again.
These men who have to listen to the chuckle of the Expert, who they are paying dearly to fix things for real, including the add on damage of trying to fix it themselves.
I was reminded of Humpty Dumpty by watching a hilarious and gross Super bowl television commercial for Turbotax, featuring the timeless cracked egg. In this spot, Humpty gets blamed for his injuries , by being so foolish as to attempt to do his taxes while sitting on a wall.
The commercial spares the viewer none of the gore experienced by the king’s men as they worked in futility to make Mr. Egg whole.
The commercial’s take home message was: “if shit happens, Turbotax could be able to find a way for you to make a tax deduction out of it. Just like insurance can.” Men need to know when to pay to get their taxes done and how much insurance coverage they need.
The Humpty Dumpty parable can also remind a man to know when to give up trying, when to undo the damage and clean up the mess already.
I would be remiss in concluding this article without applying the poem to the great mess of our day, the election of Donald Trump as the President Of The United States. As media exposes us to the painful process of Presidential Cabinet Secretaries gaining congressional approval, there is much angst over who are qualified to be one of the King’s men or women.
Is the ultimate question ”Is the world too messed up for any man, woman, or groups to be able to put it back together again?”
The most plausible answer seems to be “Yes.”
Is it time to admit we are so deep in yolk only some sort of Divine Intervention will save us, and our best interest is to work hard and try to stay out of the way?
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Photo Credit: Getty Images