On A Rainbow for the 2nd Time

On A Rainbow For the 2nd Time

John Paul Derryberry

As I grabbed the guitar, its strap resting over the rainbow jumpsuit we’d overnighted for a special end-of-the-night performance at my non-profit’s big fundraiser, I let out a chuckle. I thought, " How did I end up in this get-up for a second time? A big supporter of ours had an idea to fix the end-of-the-night lull in the program while we tallied the winners and total amount raised. Only his idea included me squarely in the middle of it: a lip sync of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” in costumes and fake instruments. I agreed—when you believe in a group of people and your mission, you do what it takes to make the night special. But I did have a caveat. I needed a favor from a group of people in South Dakota.

About two years ago, I came across a rainbow jumpsuit at a super fun, but off-the-beaten-path conference in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Each night, there was a party. The group had access to all kinds of costumes. On the rack for the famous people auction night was a glorious, thick, and heavy rainbow jumpsuit, a top hat, and large sunglasses. Sir Elton John became my muse. I spent the night trying to work in as many Elton John song titles as I could. We reached out, and they overnighted the jumpsuit to use for the magical end to our night.

I have long stated and tried to lead by example: fun is just a better way to do social work and help people. Lifting burdens is heavy, difficult, and serious work. There is no doubt about that. I have witnessed the emotional toll on the people I help and the staff I lead. I have also felt the weight of it on myself. Numerous coping skills are beneficial in times when it all feels too much. But nothing, I repeat, nothing, has ever lifted the fog of compassion fatigue like a laugh session about how ridiculous the situation we find ourselves in, laughing about it always seems to make it feel like the solution is at least in consumable chunks.  I know we can’t laugh through everything, and the difficult work still has to be done, but after a laugh, it seems doable.

So I made my entrance onto the stage, played the heck out of a fake guitar, and after some killer crowd work, grabbed another member of our agency and took them on stage with myself and my partner in crime on this lip sync. Our 3rd didn’t know it at the beginning of the night, but they eventually asked for the guitar and hammed it up even better than I could have.  Emotions are contagious, and we often think the negative ones are the most powerful, but after all these years of working in social work, I beg to differ. Putting on the dumb outfits, going the extra mile for the laugh has made my work more fulfilling, deeper, and more impactful.  Another night of leaning into a great idea by a great supporter led to a moment of cheering, laughter, dancing, and everyone singing along. Everyone was equal, connected, and for one moment in time, all the burdens faded away into a fake guitar solo. Well, maybe not a moment in time, but on a rainbow for the second time.