Opinion

Laughter is Important

Thursday, April 19, 2007

How do you keep a sense of humor if you ever watch the news programs? The recent weeks have been so full of tragedies that it is hard to find any humor in anything.

College shootings, weather catastrophes, the news from Iraq, the political atmosphere, and local personal deaths and loses seem to emphasize that life is grim and that nothing is funny anymore. That is the time when it is most important to "look on the sunny side of life."

Some of the most memorable funerals I have attended or heard over radio or television have eased the sorrow by recounting humorous episodes in the life of the deceased.

Often a mention of a personality trait will bring tender smiles from those who are grieving. The loss is changed to a feeling of appreciation for having shared moments in the life of the loved one.

Those of us who lived through World War II remember with appreciation the laughs that were brought to our nation through such people as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and many others. The USO shows that entertained the soldiers overseas did not dwell on how bad things were. Instead they drew laughs from the soldiers as they found things to laugh at together in their situation.

Often the enemy was the focal point of the jokes.

Jokes about the years of the depression are often trying to make one family' s poverty more severe than another's. Terms like "Our family was so poor that." are the first lines of many stories.

"Sick jokes" often pop up after a tragedy. When we are struggling to cope with a situation, our instinct is to find something in it to laugh about.

Later the joke can seem to be in very poor taste, but at the time it serves a need.

My e-mails are filled with humor about aging. This is partly because my friends know that I write about being Middle Age Plus. But it is also because many of my friends are in the same age range that I am in. We can't keep from getting older, or the alternative isn't attractive, but we can enjoy laughing about the problems or situations that our age brings.

Recent medical research has confirmed that it is healthy to laugh. Various studies have shown that laughing heartily for several minutes can equal minutes on an exercise machine for cardio-vascular health. There is even a name for this science. Gelotology is the study of laughter. One of the problems of this study is that when the study begins, the laughter ends. It's hard to be serious about something when you are laughing.

Sometimes our media plays up events to the extent that we can't escape from feeling the tragedy or be upset about a happening. It is often tempting to turn to re-runs of the old shows and ignore the current situation. That is probably a good idea. When we can't change what is going on, finding release in a chuckle may keep us able to cope.

The most important subject of our laughter should be ourselves. If we can find something to laugh at about something we have done, then the world can continue to be a happy place.

If I could think of something funny about myself I would join you in a good laugh. But perfection isn't very funny. Sorry about that!