a challenge of inclusion

Everyone loves inside jokes. They are a kind of special language between people who “know”. Like a secret handshake.

To the rest of us, it naturally sounds like nonsense. Which is half of the fun for the insiders. They don’t just get the secret code. They get to see how it makes other people squirm.

But for those outside “the know,” it is less enjoyable. We often feel excluded, even if it’s something we have no interest in.

That is the thing about being inside and outside. There is a lot of assumption, miscommunication, and flat out rejection going on that we mostly refuse to admit to.

The funny thing, though, is just how much all of that anxiety is about nothing.

How often are inside jokes unexplainable? Usually, we’re not really excluded from the joke. It just isn’t something for us.

The true object is to get everyone in on the joke. It’s to get everyone in on the fun.