Separating Man from Beast

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” - Proverbs 17:22

There was a woman who went to see a lawyer about getting a divorce. The lawyer started to ask her some routine questions. “What are your grounds?” “Well, we have this big farm,” she replied. “Do you have some sort of grudge?” “No, my husband’s never built one, and we have to park outside.” “Well, does he beat you up?” “Are you kidding? I get up two hours before he ever does.” “Look, Lady. Why do you want to divorce him?” “Because I have never been able to carry on an intelligent conversation with that man!”

Humor: the ability to see that something is funny. It is a marvelous human trait that almost defies definition yet so distinctly separates us from the animal kingdom. A car drove up next to me at a stoplight the other day and two young ladies suddenly erupted in laughter that carried through two, rolled up windows. It hit me squarely. Not only do we as humans feel guilt so keenly as apart from apes, we also laugh; often, communally, contagiously, and at the slightest pretext. Someone makes a joke and the next thing we hear this unique and totally unintelligible sound emanating from one another that is somewhere between a sneeze, a cough, and a wheeze yet wholly different. And everyone’s laugh is just a bit different from the high pitched squeakers to the muffled snorters to the gasping gaffawers. Record, freeze, and separate out these sounds from a person’s normal speech, play them back, and it is almost as embarrassing as appearing in public in one’s underwear.

We find humor in such incredibly different situations. We see humor in the ironic. “I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn’t have signed up in the first place!” We see humor in the unintended. “Customers who find our waitresses rude ought to see the manager” (sign in a Nairobi restaurant). “Feeding animals picking plants prohibited” (sign in the Smokies). We find humor in exaggeration. Here are three exercises to help prepare you for a hospital experience: (a) drink a quart of Sherwin-Williams Eggshell One-coat Coverage Interior Flat White #2. Then have your child stuff his slinky down your throat. (b) Put a real estate agent’s ‘Open House’ sign on your front yard and lie on your bed dressed in a paper napkin with straws stuck up your nose. (c) Put your hand down the garbage disposal while practicing your smile and repeating: “mild discomfort”.

And who doesn’t love those misprints in church bulletins? “Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.” “Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.” We love to laugh at ourselves when words come out of our mouths that make no sense. “If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure” (Bill Clinton). “Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life” (Brooke Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign). We even laugh at the obvious. “Why are men just happier people? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.” And we laugh at the mistakes of one another. Here are some notes from parents sent to school after children were absent. “Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels.” “Please excuse Lisa for being absent she was sick and I had her shot.” “Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.” Don’t laugh too hard. We are saving yours for future publication.

And then there are the things your kids say and do. A K5 student recently announced to her class that her family had cooked their cat in a pot. It turns out the cat was cremated, but not at home. And another was on a trip and declared his desperate need to use the bathroom while mom was pumping gas at a stop. She said, “Well let’s go, now!” And so he did.

Laughter is the delightful proof of our unique humanity; and good medicine to the bones. Practice daily.