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Forest Gump might define it this way:
"Funny is as funny does."

Or as Jamie Cullen could have written:

I could have laughed all night
I could have laughed all night
And still have begged for more

I think everyone loves to laugh. It just makes sense. Even the people who work very hard at pretending laughter is painful can't help but like it. America loves to laugh and we are at our best when we can laugh at ourselves. That's how you can tell a society feels safe...when they can laugh at themselves. When they can poke themselves in the ribs, slip on a banana peal, and smash a cream pie in their face, you have a society that is comfortable with their station in life and one that everyone enjoys being part of.

Sadly, we are not as funny as we used to be. We still laugh. We laugh a lot. We laugh hard....and we still enjoy laughing.....most of the time. It seems, more often, we're too busy laughing at others expense rather than our own. In fact, we don't laugh at ourselves at all anymore. We're far too successful, far too important and , lets be honest, its' had a profound effect on our society. You can see it in our TV shows and movies, news casts and radio shows, in our schools and at our grocery stores. Stop with the funny...show me the money, unless it's about you. Let me explain.


There was a time when if we lived in a community we were just that ...a community. Our parent sat around a fire or on the porch or stood a cross a fence and talked. The kids would run off and play while the adults grabbed their favorite beverage and chewed the fat about the events of the day, upcoming events and who needed what. Infused throughout the conversation were outbursts of laughter which settled into more conversation and an occasional debate. They laughed at their expense about the mistakes they made and the silliness they encountered. It was caring, nurturing, all-inclusive. I can identify with that kind of humor. It encourages closeness and sharing in good times and in bad and offers everyone an oppurtunity to see themselves as part of larger community . I submit to you that it isn't distance that makes the heart grow fonder. It is laughter and our parents had it in abundance.

Somehow, sometime that changed. We no longer laugh at ourselves with everyone else. Instead, we laugh at other people, and their misfortunes while isolating them as the butt of the joke. The result is a two prong attack on the very bindings that solidifies us as a nation, a community, and a family.

1) Our humor isn't good fun anymore. It is mean and nasty and is meted out without regard for the feelings of the person we joke about. It isolates all of us at one time or another as none of are completely spared. Some of us are cast aside regularly and ridiculed over some silly incident or bonehead mistake. Eventually the most isolated become true victims and some seek their revenge. The events that unfolded at Virginia Tech or Columbine serve as a good example as to what can happen in the most extreme cases. We should all take note that the incidents are becoming more frequent and more violent. The intended result may be a good time but there is an unintended result and and you may be surprised to find its affect on your life.

2) What we practice in common with others and what we do to others all in pursuit of a laugh eventually come home to roost. We barely know our neighbors, we aren't very open with our achievements and our failures. We in fact are quite terrified of the world in general and have developed technologies that "force" us not to interact with our community. Computers, Internet, TV, Movies, Video game systems. All of these allow us to stay at home avoiding that cruel world that lurks outside the door. We don't go out to the movies anymore... we order movies through the mail or through cable, We don't go to dinner..we have it delivered. We don't have to go out to shop for groceries...a truck will deliver it. In fact we don't have to go out to buy anything..we can buy it on line or on TV.

The unintended result of our humor is that we avoid any interaction to avoid being the victim. We can't talk to our neighbors because we cant look them in the eye. We cant look them in the eye because of the fun we've had at their expense. We are also afraid to be caught in the gaze of someone who might "find out" about us and then we will become the victim of our humor as well. And it gets worse. We can't help our neighbor when they need it because they're afraid to ask. We can t ask our neighbor for help because we are afraid that while they may help us, we will later become the topic of discussion at somebodies yap session. It is a vicious circle and the only way we can break it is for someone...anyone to venture out, risk ridicule and talk honestly, openly, earnestly and funny....ly about themselves and their circumstances. We might just be surprised that humor comes back in vogue and the world will become a nicer place to be.

I wonder who it will be?

These are, after all, the musings of a mind that wanders.