Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ha, Ha, Huh?

There are people who never have a good belly laugh. Oh sure, they chuckle when they hear a joke, but everyone knows what a joke sounds like. “And it was the chicken!” Ba dum bum. Har har.

But the rest of us can also laugh when there’s no joke. Laughter is an audible form of amusement and maybe even happiness. There’s joy in it, even when it’s something silly and meaningless. Our little dog has taken to carrying around one of Robert’s size 14 slippers and it’s funny as hell. Some things are so fun they’re funny, and there are people who just don’t get it.

They’d be mortally offended if you pointed that out, though. No one wants to be humorless. It’s possible to be nice and cheerful without a sense of humor. But the epiphany I had today, and the reason you’re reading this, is that those people, the ones who don’t laugh, never seem happy. The best I’ve ever seen in any of them is satisfaction. I don’t mean to impugn satisfaction, I’m a big fan. I still prefer joy. I don’t know anyone who can feel joy without laughter nearby.

Imagine going through a day without being able to appreciate the intrinsic absurdity of our lives. Which reminds me of my favorite joke: What’s green, hangs on a wall, and whistles? The answer is a herring. It isn’t green, someone would have to nail it to a wall, and it doesn’t whistle, but you can’t have everything. Heh. Cracks me up every time.

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