Keep My Words

Do you see how you hurt me, baby?  So I hurt you too.  Then we both get so blue.  – Joni Mitchell, “All I Want”

Yesterday I returned to New York after a much needed week-and-a-half long vacation.

On this trip, I happened to watch quite a few episodes of Pee-wee’s Playhouse.  Each was brilliant, but one in particular lingered in my mind throughout my entire stay down south.  It was titled “Why Wasn’t I Invited?”

In “Why Wasn’t I Invited?”, Mrs. Renee passes by the Playhouse on her way to Cowntess’s birthday party.  When she tells Pee-wee where she’s headed, he says that he wasn’t invited.

“I thought the Cowntess was my friend,” Pee-wee solemnly states.  Chairry suggests that maybe Cowntess didn’t send any invitations, but then Randy, the Playhouse bully, tells Pee-wee that he got an invitation in the mail.  Everyone else in the Playhouse except for Magic Screen and Chairry admit that they, too, received invites, and they head to the party.

Pee-wee claims that he can have fun at the Playhouse with just Magic Screen and Chairry.  They attempt to enjoy themselves, but eventually Pee-wee gives in to his disappointment.  “We’re not having a good time because we weren’t invited to that party,” he tells his friends.

After wondering what to do about it, Pee-wee decides to write a letter to the Advice Lady.

Dear Advice Lady, he writes, I have two questions.  Number 1: Why would somebody that’s your friend not invite you to their party?  And number 2: What should a person do if something terrible like this happens to them?  Please answer this letter as soon as possible, if not sooner.  Your pal, Puzzled in the Playhouse.

Mr. Kite takes Pee-wee’s letter to the Advice Lady, and not even five seconds after Mr. Kite’s exit from the screen, the Playhouse Picturephone rings.  It’s the Advice Lady calling to answer Pee-wee’s questions.

In response to the first question, she says that there could be a lot of reasons why a friend wouldn’t invite another friend to his/her party.  For example, if it is a party just for family members, or a party just for girls.  The Advice Lady also says that if someone has a million friends, he/she cannot possibly invite them all.

“I guess you’re right,” Pee-wee tells her, “but it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

This brings the Advice Lady to Pee-wee’s second question: what should he do?

“If someone hurts your feelings you should let them know about it.  If you don’t, you’ll only end up feeling worse,” she advises.

Pee-wee considers her wise words, agrees, and hangs up the phone.  “I’m going to call the Cowntess right now and give her a piece of my mind!” he tells his friends in the Playhouse.

When Cowntess answers the phone, her party is in full-force.  She begins to say that she heard about Pee-wee not getting an invitation, but he interrupts her.

“You really hurt our feelings and we don’t want to be your friends anymore!” he shouts.

“But I did send you invitations!” Cowntess claims.

Unfortunately, Pee-wee is so hurt and upset that the statement doesn’t even register.  He continues yelling at her.  “Have a nice birthday party without us Cowntess!  GOODBYE!”

Pee-wee hangs up the phone and begins frantically pacing around the Playhouse.  He still doesn’t feel any better about the situation.

“Maybe you could have told her in a nice way, Pee-wee,” Chairry says.

“Maybe I could have.  Maybe I should have,” Pee-wee replies.

At that moment, Reba the Mail Lady shows up with the missing invitations: one for Pee-wee, one for Chairry, and one for Magic Screen.  Seconds after she leaves, the Cowntess knocks on the Playhouse door.  She says that she couldn’t enjoy the party knowing that she hurt Pee-wee’s feelings.  They both apologize.

“I was mad and I just wanted you to feel as hurt as I was.  I’m sorry.  Do you forgive me?” Pee-wee asks.

“Of course I do.  If you can’t forgive a friend, who can you forgive?” the Cowntess replies, and they all head to the party.

Recently I had to forgive someone for something terrible they did, and I also had to forgive myself, not only for my reaction to this thing, but for my naiveté in the whole situation.  I haven’t told this person that I forgive him, and I honestly don’t know if it’s necessary, or if he’d care.  I had to forgive him for me.

Still, as it goes in these situations, the radio silence is deafening.  And so very, very sad.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.