They Won't Take You Seriously If You're Too Happy

So it goes like this--if you want people to take you seriously, you shouldn't look too happy. You should look serious, formal and decent. You should avoid laughing too much (put a limit to about 4 lols a day). If you miss any of these four (serious, formal, decent and limited lols), they assume you're lackadaisical or flippant. Or too shallow, halfhearted or lazy. [Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay].

Or maybe a crook.

It's easy to project a respectable image with this formula. You want good treatment? Look serious. Look formal. And yes, I almost forgot--talk like a poet. Sound like the ancients, using flowery words in a modulated voice for a dramatic and mysterious effect. Most people go crazy for this and would give you everything if they hear you speak like this.

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So, instead of simply saying, "Yup, that's right," they say, "With all due respect, my beloved brethren, I'm of the opinion that it is correct." And that's with a matching formal, lowered tone of voice, often packaged with some props--the formal attire, formal gestures and walk, plus the dead formal well kempt hair.

You have this look and people respect you to the highest heavens. They deify you. That's why a lot of them are easily fooled. And no matter how many times they've been deceived by this look-formula, they just keep falling victim to it. They're actually addicted to it. The vicious cycle goes on.

This is the case with most churches, actually. They weigh pastors with this look-formula. If a minister misses the 4 characteristics, he loses respect (and possibly big offerings). So he carefully follows the norm, even adding titles and degrees to it for the final touch. He fears being disregarded or made irrelevant so he complies as best as he can. He is a full member of the club.

So you'd see almost every pastor speak with poetic voice and flowery language (especially behind the pulpit) because that's how they get people's attention and respect. It's an SOP, the same thing politicians use in campaigns. And most people like it that way. So they really deserve each other.

I've never heard Jesus talk (in the physical realms), and reading him through the King James Version of the bible lends him a rabidly formal disposition, like he was under the spell of the look-formula. So you'd think he was the serious, formal type as depicted in most Jesus films. 

But I don't think he was. Remember, he grew up in the slums of Nazareth and spoke Aramaic which was the common street language at the time. I believe he spoke the way street toughies did which was anything but serious, formal, decent, and poetic. And add to that his rugged slum attire, perhaps sullied further by the carpentry works of his father. Sometimes, I can see him as a homeless, college dropout.

Nothing in Jesus made him look like he was after people's regard or attention. On the contrary, he looked like he intentionally went against every norm and standard of men.