EFY

EFY(1,209)

July 16th, 2011

What is your percentage?

What is the percentage of your life filled with serious moments as opposed to silliness? I will bluntly tell you that anyone who is serious more than 49% of the time is not only desperately contentious and fussy, but also has totally missed out on the significance of what makes this planet called earth spin and twirl.

Simply stated, I am dead serious about being silly—and I find that the sillier I get, the more energy I have for the moments when a serious and wise tone is required.

May I dub this my EFY factor? EFY stands for Egg Foo Yung, which is silly enough in itself. Are there any other three words put together that are more mis-matched than those three? Yet Egg Foo Yung is the perfect American food.

Look at it carefully: you have eggs, which satisfy the conservative Midwest portion of our nation—them-there farmers. It is also stuffed with vegetables, appeasing those liberal, hippy types from the coasts. It’s deep-fried in grease, making everybody south of the Mason Dixon line smile and give a big “yee-ha!” And it’s covered with a brown sauce—soul food, baby.

God bless America and Egg Foo Yung.

And its name is silly—and invites diversification:

· You could offer it for breakfast with milk, and call it Egg Foo Moo.

· Share it with a date: Egg Foo for Two

· One of my favorites. Serve it over a croissant: Egg Foo Parlez-vous.

· And of course, if you’re a little ornery, like me, you can discuss the condition that happens two days after eating Egg Foo Yung—Egg Foo Poo.

Never underestimate the power of silliness.

How silly was it of Jesus to turn to the multitudes and say, “Can the blind lead the blind? Won’t they both end up in the ditch?” How about, “If your child asks for a loaf of bread, will you give him a stone instead?” Golly. That even rhymes. Jesus always had children hanging around him. Silliness is demanded to attract the little ones. And don’t forget—his first public miracle: Opening blind eyes? Nope. Raising someone from the dead? Nope. It was turning water into wine. I guess the by-line for his outreach would be Sip ’n Save. This is definitely someone not taking himself too seriously.

And just for the record, we’ve gone through a whole generation here, marking maturity by clearing our throats, stumbling over words, pretending we’re deep and furrowing our brows to let everyone know that we are engrossed in thought—and what has it done for us? Left us spiritually, financially and intellectually bankrupt.

Don’t you think it’s time to try silliness? What is your EFY percentage? What portion of your life is devoted to keeping a sense of good cheer, which lends itself to a sense of humor, granting much more opportunity for the introduction of common sense?

Yes. It is the Egg Foo Yung test—because I cannot say Egg Foo Yung without giggling. Call me silly, and surely you must. I know some of you will read this and think, “Oh, he’s just being clever and cute for one day, and tomorrow we’ll go back to being so mature that we bore ourselves.”

Not for me. This is not an essay of diversion from everyday subjects of deeper matters. I handle all circumstances with an awareness that nothing is too serious, nothing is permanent and everything is evolving towards humor.

Oh, by the way—did you hear about the Chinese restaurant that was losing customers, so it decided to offer a karaoke night at its establishment? They called it Egg Foo Sung.