The Jokes on You

In Jason’s Bible class, the children discuss the command to bear one another’s burdens. Jason explains that encouragement can build people up, support them emotionally, and sometimes urge them toward something difficult but beneficial. He asks each student to look for an opportunity to encourage someone during the coming week.

Julie selects Dwayne as her personal project because he often fails at school and seems unable to help without creating another problem. At the roller rink, Dwayne repeatedly falls and finally retreats to the snack bar. He tells Julie that he is not good at skating - or much of anything - and has learned to accept it.

Unable to name a genuine skill immediately, Julie tells Dwayne that he has a great sense of humor. The compliment transforms him. By the next day he is telling an endless stream of painfully weak jokes, adding his own spoken drumbeat after every punch line, and announcing that he wants to become a comedian.

Sarah and Jared blame Julie for encouraging him, but Julie is pleased that her project finally believes in himself. Jason notices that she laughs far more enthusiastically than Dwayne’s material deserves. He warns that encouragement must remain truthful and asks whether she plans to tell Dwayne that he is not yet ready for a comedy career.

Dwayne signs up to perform at the school talent show. Julie tries to caution him about facing a full auditorium but comforts herself with the thought that the audition committee will reject a weak act. The committee, however, has received so few entries that it accepts every performer. Dwayne is admitted after barely beginning his first joke.

Overjoyed, Dwayne thanks Julie for being the first person to believe in him. Jason reminds her that the larger the false hope grows, the more painful the public embarrassment may become. Julie promises to tell Dwayne the truth but delays while trying to find words that will not hurt him.

When Julie finally visits, Dwayne says his family will be away during the show and that he must withdraw. Relieved, she abandons her confession and simply congratulates him. On the afternoon of the performance, Sarah reveals that the family’s plans changed and that Dwayne expects Julie to attend.

Julie races to the auditorium but reaches it just as Dwayne walks onstage. Instead of beginning his comedy routine, he introduces himself as Oswaldo the Magnificent and performs magic. He cuts and restores a rope, involves an audience volunteer, and handles the stage with confidence. His act earns real laughter and applause.

Dwayne explains that he performed the comedy routine for his father the previous night. His father honestly told him it was terrible and quickly taught him several magic tricks instead. Dwayne is grateful that someone cared enough to tell the truth before he humiliated himself in front of the school.

Julie apologizes for allowing encouragement to become dishonesty. She still believes Dwayne can be funny, but he needs better material - like the humor woven into his successful magic act. This time her praise is both kind and true. Dwayne accepts it, produces a silver dollar from behind her ear, and demonstrates that he really has found a talent worth developing.