Hilarious would be an understatement. He’s made me laugh even on my gloomiest days as I’d sit watching him make a fool of himself while I ate straight out of a tub of Mississippi Mud ice cream from Baskin Robins. There have been days when I’d skip lunches with friends just to watch him be his harmlessly eccentric self. Surely there was something about this man that cheered me up as no one else could, but I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was. Was it his little idiosyncrasies? All the funny expressions, the peculiar gesturing or his wide misinterpretation of rather serious situations, if not all of them? Was it the way he made everyone around him laugh, intentionally or unintentionally? Or was it the fact that he was just so full of life all the time, merely watching him go about his day was enough to lighten up mine? Honestly, it has been so long but I still don’t know.
I still remember the first time I saw him. He was dressed in a suit but ironically enough, he was at his goofiest; his dad-joke game strong and his puns just all over the place. I strongly recall saying to myself “Wow, he’s got one wacky personality alright”, and everyone around him seemed to think likewise, judging by the expression on their faces. However, he seemed unfazed by this and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was like this all the time and whether I’d grow accustomed to that. Eventually, I did, so much so that I even introduced most of my friends to him and they still talk about him with so much love, ever so often.
I nearly lost it when he left. I silently cried in a corner while everybody sang him a little goodbye song, as I aggressively dug deeper into that ice-cream tub. It took me a while to realize that contrary to common belief, everyone around him actually needed him more than he needed them. That’s just the kind of person he was, even with all the messed up punchlines, the borderline offensive jokes, and the absolute inability to identify a sarcastic comment, let alone pick up hints from rolled eyes or mocking tones. No silence was ever too awkward for him, no comment ever too inappropriate for the situation. But despite all of this ignorance, deep-seated within him, he had an innocent, almost child-like genuine care for everybody around him entangled with the longing to create a strong, meaningful and everlasting bond with them. This positive attitude of his has helped me get through so much in life. For instance, when he said “It’s a pimple, Phyllis. Avril Lavigne gets them all the time and she rocks harder than anyone alive”, oh boy, I knew he was a keeper.
That’s right. In case you haven’t realized already, I’m talking about none other than the great Michael Scott himself.
