by Freyda Tartak

Created on: August 21, 2009   Last Updated: August 24, 2009

When is the last time you had a real belly laugh? The kind that makes your sides hurt and makes it hard to breath air? The kind that makes everything else seem funny because you just want to keep laughing? It's probably been a while. Why? We are inundated by humour. Our entire society believes so completely that a life without daily humour is not worth living that our television shows have background laughter just to remind you to laugh on cue.

The need to laugh is so much a part of our society that we will accept things to laugh at which are not funny at all. We have become followers, looking for the others to at least chuckle so that we can join in often not really seeing anything the least bit jovial. We allow ourselves to be confused and misled for the sake of a quota.

Humor Should Be Funny

We've become jaded. We used to laugh when somebody said "aren't you glad I didn't say orange?" or "because seven ate nine." Now we need shock treatment and look for funny moments on reality shows where celebrities have to eat decaying maggots. In fact, because we have worked so hard at making everything funny we have become immune to the many tragedies in our world. Tsunamis, world hunger, global corruption of governments, genocide, disease, and the like are not properly considered because where is the daily humor in that?

It is no wonder that irony, absurdity, satire, farce, and wit have become old fashioned. They require too much work. Today people are looking for the mundane chewed and regurgitated low brow stuff because, let's face it, our lives are busy and we depend on fast food and drive-through comedy. A joke with bite or aftertaste lands on deaf ears.

Take Back The Joy

What we need to do is take a step back and take off the rosy glasses. Try to see the world for what it is and focus more on what we can do for others than what they can do for us... you know, act like it's Christmas. To be sure, there is lots to laugh about. But, take stalk of the things that seem out of our hands. The ones that seem like other people's problems. Take a little time to read about the atrocities in world. Learn about injustices and understand that just by lucky coincidence you were born here and not there. Then, watch a butterfly flutter from your toes to your nose and laugh because it really is funny.

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