Do we need humor on a daily basis?

Yes

1 of 63

by Shirley Love

• 

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

The section of the Reader's Digest entitled: Laughter, the Best Medicine, was always the first on my reading list. Starting with laughter, any otherwise complacent action can take on an aura of pleasantry. However, the adage laughter is the best medicine, holds a lot of truth.

Laughter is good for your mental health and well-being. It can relieve stress, anxiety, depression, tension and worry. It is a massage for your soul and a therapist for your mind, and it costs nothing.

Laughter is also a good exercise for the heart and lungs; it can improve the circulation of the blood; it relaxes the muscles in the face, neck, and shoulders; and Praise the Lord, it burns calories! For that last reason alone, I try to laugh several times a day!

When our family gets together, we know there will be peals of laughter hovering over the neighborhood like a cloud of good will. We are a witty family, especially my daughters. My youngest should be a stand-up comedienne since she can quickly find humor in most situations and we sometimes laugh until the tears roll. That is a very healthy type of laughter.

Sometimes we really need laughter when it would seem most inappropriate. It can work magic to intrude on the dark clouds of the mourning process, although only momentarily, but it is a welcome intruder. One instance of this can be recalled in the movie Steele Magnolias.

When the ladies are gathered at the cemetery after Shelby's death, her mother M'Lynn is inconsolable with grief. She screams, I'm fine! I'm fine! I can jog all the way to Texas and back! But my daughter can't, she never could!

Through her sobbing, she continues, It's not supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to go first! I don't think I can take this! I just want to hit somebody until they feel as bad as I do!

At that point, her friend Clariee realizes the need to do something to ease the grieving and she grabs the contrary character, Ouiser and shoves her in front of M'Lynn and says, Here! Hit this! Go ahead, M'Lynn, slap her!

This action shocks and stuns all present until Clariee breaks the tense moment with the statement, We'll sell t-shirts saying, 'I SLAPPED OUISER BOUDREAUX! This is your chance to do something for you fellow man!

After Ouiser flees the scene, Clariee tells M'Lynn, You just missed the chance of a lifetime! Half of Chiquapin Parish would give their eye teeth to take a whack at Ouiser. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, the ladies begin to show signs of laughter, although for Ouiser's sake they try to mask it. The action served its purpose in relieving M'Lynn's moment of sheer grief, although at the expense of Ouiser's dignity. Of course Clariee made amends to Ouiser a few moments later. There is something in our make-up that demands laughter when, without it, we would be drowning in sorrow.

The purest form of humor sometimes comes from the innocence of children. Art Linkletter realized this when he hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things! and later compiled a book from the experiences of interviewing those young comedians unaware.

Television shows of the past could send us into fits of laughter! We enjoyed shows like Candid Camera, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and a host of others that could lighten our spirits with their hilarious antics. And best of all, their humor was clean. There were no off-color jokes and insulting four letter words. Some comedians today are not really as funny as they are shocking. I for one, see little humor in that. Give me clean, wholesome jokes for clean wholesome laughter.

Humor can put people at ease in an awkward situation. I recall an incident involving a rather large lady who was sitting in a small molded lawn chair complete with arms on the sides. It was apparent that she was too large for the small chair, and when she stood up at last, the chair came up with her, firmly attached to her hips. There were a few moments of awkward silence from all present, although some were having a hard time retaining their composure for the sake of the overweight lady.

Then she broke the tension by saying, I just washed these chairs, and evidently they shrank! at which point she broke into peals of laughter which told the others that they were allowed to see the humor of the situation also. The ability to laugh at ourselves is rare, and maybe even brave, but it is probably the sincerest form of laughter.

Sometimes today it is difficult to see humor in any form. The world is in peril, we have enemies who want to destroy us and our country, our economy is in the toilet, the jobless rate is climbing, and people are losing their homes. How can one find any humor in this situation? Thank God for our political cartoonists! They can find ways to evoke a smile, and sometimes out and out laughter, from the direst of situations. If that doesn't work for you, try to find some slapstick on television in reruns of I Love Lucy. It will do your heart good to laugh, so have a dose of laughter at least once a day. It truly is the best medicine!

Learn more about this author, Shirley Love.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.