Get Serious

Reading ESPN and there's a great story on Albert Pujols by Tim Keown.

And the focus is how serious he is. The writer's theory? That Pujols' seriousness is twofold - it's about being a role model for his team and for the sport - especially because of thie visibility stemming from his talent and pay. And the other reason is the serious mission of his Pujols Family Foundation (children with Down's Syndrome) and seriousness of what he sees in his Dominican homeland - the poverty and strife he works so tirelessly to impact - bringing in dentists to fix teeth. Clean mattresses to an infested shantytown.

I can understand seriousness like this. I can understand not bejng a giggling Johnny Damon type when you see what he has seen.

But I also wonder. Can you be respected as a role model, can you get charitable work done, can you excel in your trade -without being serious?

I take my work extremely seriously. My craft. Being a writer. Being a mother. A wife. The initiative I started to teach writing and public speaking to inner city kids. It all matters to me very much, and I pursue it all with intensity (just try and get in my way).

But I don't live seriously in the world. I live lightly. I laugh all the time. I prefer an incentive program that encourages good efforts with cupcakes and praise to reprimanding shortcomings.

The way I dress (bursts of color, ruffles and wraps, huge cuffs), walk (almost skipping) laugh (loudly), even my 1970s clipboard and chartreuse file folders - all of it unavoidably broadcasts my jovialiry.

I'm torn about that. On the one hand, I hate to temper my very essence and what makes me me, but I wonder sometimes if it's asking too much of the rest of the world to know how seriously I take the things I care about - no matter how loud my laugh or how messy my foyer or how easily I join in when someone starts up the Mannequin theme song.

I've always assumed people will just get it - that my efforts speak for themselves no matter what the facade looks like. But maybe that's just not possible.

I'm not dealing with anything remotely close to be caliber of what Albert Pujols is - but sometimes I wonder if I need to put on a serious face just to make sure everyone's aware of how hard I play my game.