Were we all made to laugh? Did anyone have to teach a child to laugh? Do we need humor, comedy, ironic laughter, funny stuff and friends?
Growing up I remember lying belly-flat on the floor, little radar dish ears aimed at radio speakers, listening to Fibber McGee and Molly and their friends who each Tuesday evening dropped into their home on Whistle Vista Avenue. Often when Fibber would try to get a laugh, Molly would say, “Ain’t funny, McGee”.
Well, health matters “ain’t funny” either, whether you’re talking chronic illness, aging issues, setback illnesses, misery-making diseases, naggy symptoms, disabling injuries, genetic problems, gaining strength, or trying to maintain health and gain wholeness.
Ah, but humor, funny stories, ironic tales, jokes, cartoons (even puns) can be very helpful, uplifting, day-lightening, night-easing, mood-changing, life-balancing comedications. Given the realities of life and our vulnerable natures, we need to include, invite, intone and engage the comedic in our daily diets.
Norman Cousins, 30 year editor of the National Review, suffered from a rare, highly painful, life-threatening form of arthritis. He put himself on a constant diet of laughable stuff, survived, and found great healing so that he wrote Laughing is the Best Medicine, then other best selling books on humor and healing, ultimately leading to lectures and courses in top medical schools. Type in “Norman Cousins” on your computer and get a wealth of understanding about laughter’s effects on us for healing!
Humor has a way of cracking through our obsessions, preoccupations and burdens. I remember reading a Peanuts comic strip on a Sunday night when I was loaded down with concerns about how effective I was being. Charlie Brown attached a note to a helium balloon which read, “God loves you.” Releasing it, he smiles imagining the note coming down to a King who totally changes the way he rules his people, or to someone who then becomes a doctor and heals many people, and a couple more such scenarios. The balloon comes down by Snoopy, who registers a big question mark! I laughed so hard, couldn’t quit, and literally fell out of bed, ultimately hugely relieved!
Our lives can get so occupied, heavy, worrisome, burdened and unbalanced. Certainly this becomes acute with sickness, hard times and limitations. Humor can shake loose the tightened-downness and preoccupied stuckness so we regain perspective, creative thinking and a sense of our larger life.
Many of us see living the Christian life as serious business and barren of humor. Imagine my discovery of Elton Trueblood’s The Humor of Christ. What!? It was an eye-bouncing delight to read! He saw some of Jesus’ stories as cartoons: i.e., picture the guy with a 4 x 4 board in his eye trying to remove a speck from another guy’s eye. (I loaned this book, never got it back! It ain’t funny!)
Humor is “good for what ails ya” as individuals, families, organizations or communities. It moves us along “from moping to coping to doping to hoping”. Story-telling often erupts into funny stuff. For healthfulness, nourishing snacks of humor and laughter are uplifting daily. For more serious ailments, stronger doses from various sources can counter what we must deal with.
Even doctors can be funny, like the one who answered the worried teenager’s question, “Will my face break out?” by saying, “I don’t make rash decisions.”
It ain’t funny, but here’s a serious notion to ponder: Kierkegaard said: “Laughter is a form of prayer.”
~Earl Laman, Health Ministry member