Humor is vital to our mental health and because it is, it makes a big difference. The therapeutic evidence is overwhelming. Many people who are afflicted with chronic and life-threatening disease provide anecdotal stories of small victories that are heartwarming, inspirational, and, yes, funny.

Just as therapeutic, though, is the daily humor in everyday routine things that occur against a backdrop of unrelenting hatred, terrorism, war, divisive and nasty politics, volatile economic conditions, and a media who appears to almost revel in this negativity simply because bad news sells.

I am 52 now and I am finding comfort in the ability to laugh at myself. And I think it is because I am finally realizing that the human condition is just that, human. The foibles, mistakes, and miscues of life are universal. We simply don't need to be perfect and we can find laughter and learning in our missteps.

I favor humor that pokes fun at marriage, male stereotypes (not so stereotypical at least in my case), getting older (not always so gracefully, again, at least in my case), and political correctness. I favor these because I have a lot of direct experience. While sometimes embarrassing, this experience produces in me wisdom and the ability to empathize with others. At least that is my hope.

Political correctness is a little tricky. I can recognize and find humor in some of the absurdities that result. But sometimes there is a gray area where, while not intentional, offending someone is possible, and probably inevitable.

I recently e-mailed at my office an interesting article about our increasingly multi-generational work force. It addressed the differences among the baby boomers, generation X,and generation Y, and how they can be handled when a baby boomer reports to an X'er or Y'er. I routed the article with the subject line reading, "For those who manage old farts and for the old farts."

This was offensive to at least one person. Ironically, I was thinking of myself because I am that baby boomer. I initially reacted defensively but then realized that maybe it was offensive to that person because that person was experiencing mistreatment due to age, of which I wasn't aware.

And while I love the comedy in sarcasm, it can also be tricky. It's easy to cross that line condescension, and the line is a moving target depending on your audience.

Most important, I think, a good sense of humor on a daily basis preserves perspective. Keeping things in perspective is essential to our mental health. This doesn't mean that we treat important things cavalierly. What it means is that we recognize the differences between the important and not-so-important, and act or react accordingly.

I am a bit of a hypocrite because what I have just preached I don't always practice. But I am working at it, and I find humor in the process.

Learn more about this author, Joe Junfola.
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