Broken Open Part 2 of 8: Bozos on the Bus
September 10, 2009 by dr. lam
Elizabeth Lesser cites the irrepressible clown, Wavy Gravy, for the expression “bozos on the bus”: ”We’re all bozos on the bus, so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.” Wavy Gravy is perhaps best known for his role as master of ceremonies in 1969 at Woodstock or as the eponymous Ben and Jerry ice cream flavor. He has also been a strong advocate for improving the lot of inner-city kids and also for running for president under the pseudonym, “Nobody”, so that he could use humorous tag lines like “Nobody for President” and “Nobody’s Perfect.” Wavy Gravy also has worked with Lesser at her Omega Institute as a workshop leader leveraging his comedic talents.
The expression “bozos on the bus” is meant for all of us to take what we do a little less seriously. Sometimes we are so imbued with the urgency to present a serious and perfect face to everyone around us that we cannot see that we are all just “bozos on the bus”. What Lesser is getting at is that we have frailties and failures like everyone else; we just don’t show them to someone else. There is this false sense of “Why can’t I be like Susan? She’s got it all together.” Does she though? Don’t we just offer false platitudes when someone comes up to us and says, “How are the kids?” ”Oh fine. Doing well.” ”How about Tom?” ”Great. Never better.” Maybe we mean, “My kids are struggling in school and my husband and I are separated.” We always put our best foot forward so that we never appear like a bozo. But come on! We are all just bozos on a bus.
We all can take ourselves a little less seriously and expose a little of our raw side so that we can be a little human. I remember for my high school prom night that I was trying so hard in my poorly fitting tuxedo to impress my date and to look the part. All that fell apart when I was trying to find my destination well before the era of GPS, iPhones with maps, and Mapquest. I think a 5 minute ride turned into a 30 minute excursion. Of course, my perfect sense of myself rarely allows me to admit my bad sense of direction because a guy is not supposed to have that, right? Okay, I’m just a bozo on a bus like all of you.
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3 Responses to “Broken Open Part 2 of 8: Bozos on the Bus”
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Very good post! Actually, I’ve found that there are several different faces that people have. There’s a business face, a friendship face, a normal face and an enemy face (lol), etc. My belief is that you will never know someone on a deep level unless you have seen all sides.
Yeah, I’ve made it a goal to aim to put the real me forward instead of acting or trying to put on a show or give a certain impression. It just is much more honest.
LOL funny story, Dr. Lam! Hey, Dr. Lam, that was a good point about directions and the social assumptions that place pressures on people to follow a certain standard, when really, who cares?!..lol Hey, it is the 21st century and obviously there was a need to create GPSs and you’d be surprised how many men have them…lol Oh, I have to tell you a funny about my sister Holly…well, one time a few years ago, she was supposed to be somewhere at a certain time (I think her destination was about 15 minutes away), well, she ended up making it to Branson, having to fill the tank up a couple times, and then got home around midnight after stopping for directions the entire way home…lol She called home to inform my dad that she was desperately lost, but she didn’t know where she was at or what direction she was headed, so my dad couldn’t give her any help there…lol Poor girl!..lol
great story. i love GPS, especially going to someone’s home that is buried in 50 twists and turns. i am good at a lot of things but getting out of a person’s home is not my forte. GPS makes me look smart!!!
I’m an original member of THE FIRESIGN THEATRE Grammy-nominated 4-man satirical recording and performing group. We knew Wavy and love him, but WE created the phrase “I Think We’re All Bozos on this Bus” and released an album in the early Seventies with that title. Check it out at firesigntheatre.com. We are also going on tour with a new show under that name to San Rafael, Monterey and the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood next month. Welcome aboard!!!