Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Laugh, it's funny

Life is hard at times and things don't always go as planned. God, in His (echoing North of 50, yes, His) infinite wisdom has given us a tremendous way to handle our problems. It is called a 'sense of humor'. It gives an outlet that lets us, for even the briefest of moments forget our troubles.

Perhaps a sense of humor is God's little joke on us. That being said, can you imagine a world without snickers and chuckles? Keeping that in perspective, there are sad events that happen every day in the world and nothing can take away the pain. I will be attending a funeral showing later today for a wonderful lady who lived a full life and is now parted from our world. She just celebrated her 90th birthday. The sadness that will be felt by her family is not to be trivialized.

Life is to be enjoyed whenever possible. Too often I am confronted or hear about those who are so serious about their position on a subject, their belief structure or anything else they can't find the humor is something. Growing up Catholic, my loving mother would nearly blow a gasket at some of the records my siblings and I listened to. George Carlin had a comedy bit about growing up Catholic that to this day nearly causes me pain from laughing. North of 50 would certainly agree. My mother hated that record. I don't know if Carlin was Catholic or not but it seems he must have been to know in-depth the quirky little rules and scenarios that can cause one to 'sin', even on their best behavior.

The world has become too 'politically correct'. No you shouldn't hurt someones feelings, don't make fun of other's points of view, or political sense, or religion or anything else. It creates divisiveness. I would disagree. It creates unity. Someone with a differing view can bring to light things you wouldn't see because your point of view is clouded by a belief structure. Humor creates unity and introspection. Some of the most content people I have ever seen have come from a comedy show. They are laughing and thinking about what they just heard. Laughing at yourself causes inspection of your beliefs and in yourself and in my view, a more positive world to live in.

Even my mother learned to laugh at Catholic jokes, although not very loudly.

4 comments:

  1. And remember when she forbade us to watch Laugh-In?

    I think that lasted a week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We weren't allowed to watch Laugh-In? I thought she watched it with us?

    ReplyDelete
  3. As I said, that lasted a week, maybe two. She did watch it with us, which is why she banned it after they poked fun at the Church one week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't forget Uncle Bob and his reaction to "Is the Pope Catholic?"

    ReplyDelete