Say “Meh” For Blasé Day

The last time Jorge stopped by for a visit, we skimmed through my homemade, treasured notebook of accumulated, off-beat holidays.  His eyes stopped at the entry for Blasé Day.  He asked why I didn’t have any references listed for it.  I explained that I searched high and low to find out its history and where it is celebrated.  No data came up.

I wondered when he last felt a noticeable spell of blasé.   Jorge tilted his head and asked, “Is that even a noun?”  I retorted with “I don’t care. I think every word is considered a noun, these days.”

My friend brought up a recent incident that involved his husband.  José decided that he needed more motivation and focus in his life.  So José, dug out his Tony Robbins audiobook collection. For nearly a week, wherever Jorge and José went or whatever they were doing, there was the voice of Tony Robbins ranting about success, productivity, and positive attitudes. After six days of almost non-stop Tony Robbins’ speechifying, Jorge insisted that it stop.

A little bit of Tony Robbins goes a long ways with Jorge.  The constant upbeat rah, rah had emotionally drained Jorge. He just needed to chill-out in front of the teevee for a day.

I remarked that overly dramatic motivational speakers like Robbins also have the same effect on me. A few minutes spent with his voice is OK.  A whole audiobook of him at one sitting is overkill. The end result is a blasé feeling that is hard to shake.

Jorge decided that it must be our contrarian nature that apathy is the result from a Tony Robbins event.  I said that Tony Robbins is a good man who has motivated people to do wonderful things.  Many folks derive much benefit from his appearances and books. However, for me, the effect is so bad, that I feel blasé just hearing or seeing his name.

Jorge looked at me and remarked that we both feel really blasé right now. He hoped the apathy would last through Blasé Day.  Jorge still wanted to know something about this weird holiday.  Why did somebody go to the trouble of proclaiming it, yet not follow through with an explanation of it?

Maybe all of the effort to invent the holiday and publicizing it was just too much for whoever did it.  She or he expended a whole lot of energy and felt inappropriately excited about apathy that the project was abandoned.  Whoever felt too blasé about Blasé Day.  I replied, “Meh”.

I have my own hypothesis about the holiday.  The serious business of the holiday season officially begins on Thanksgiving. The media and retailers will be pumping us up,  non-stop, with marketing and sales pitches.  There will be others who complain about us not remembering the “reason for the season”.  The beautiful, contrasting red with green color motif will be everywhere. Bright sparkling images and lights will be our environment from now until New Year’s Day.

The whole culture will be wrapped up in a Tony Robbinsesque tableau for weeks on end. Hence, Blasé Day is a healthy way to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of great expectations that will soon crash into us.

Jorge said that my explanation makes perfect sense.  However, he complained that the hype already began back at Hallowe’en time.  I agreed, but mentioned that before tomorrow’s attitude of gratitude has even had a chance to soak in, many people will eagerly anticipate the “Black Friday” bargains in many stores. That’s when the hype goes into overdrive.

My pal smiled at me, then commented that not only do I condone a blasé attitude, but also a strong note of cynicism.  I grinned back. After all, I wanted to be appropriately prepared to properly celebrate Blasé Day.

Jorge remarked, “Meh, its the reason for the season.”

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness ponders a quip by Bill Watterson from a “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon. “You can present the material, but you can’t make me care.”