HUMOR – My 12th Grade Perspective

As I was digging through PILES of miscellaneous statements needing to be filed or shredded, baggies of old receipts I probably no longer need, pictures of my children from years gone past that still need to be framed, I found a folder which had the speeches I wrote 30+ years ago, from 8^th grade through high school and the one’s I used when I performed in competitions.   Major flashback moment!!

When I was in 12^th grade, I was a member of the Meridian High School Forensics Team in Meridian, Idaho and I competed in Speech competitions in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.  Our speeches could be one’s that were written by someone else, or we could write them.  I competed in several different categories such as Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Impromptu, and Original Oratory.  One of the speeches I wrote in my folder, for an Original Oratory Competition back in 1984, was called “HUMOR”.  

The timeliness of finding this speech was perfect, because just last week, I was having a conversation with my children, regarding their need to have a better sense of humor towards themselves, towards other people and with each other and why this is important for them in life.   They can be so serious and take everything so personal!  Once in a while a laugh will “sneak” out of them, or they will share a really funny joke, but not as often as they should and I would like them to.  Clearly, their over-serious behavior and lack of laughter, are NOT traits they got from their mother.  Hahaha 

I think I am going to share what I wrote as a teenager years ago, with my own teenagers today.  Maybe after they read this, their attitude towards HUMOR will improve and the sound of laughter (verses tears) will increase in my home.  We'll see....

Here is what I wrote at 17 years old (but sounds like something I would probably write today):

What is 99% fat-free, has no cholesterol, can’t be smoked, drunk, or eaten, yet is definitely habit forming?  HUMOR!

One of the particularly endearing things about humor is that it is related to reality.  It is also a remarkably useful thing in the context of the whole process of communication in that it is an aid to the expression of other emotions and to the transmission of important messages of spiritual, political, educational or commercial nature.  It is, come to think of it, an absolute necessity in the maintenance of sanity. 

In regards to physical health, there are two conditions necessary.  The first, being the ability to laugh at yourself.  By laughing at oneself, one can avoid creating the impression of being pompous or too self-important.  Making jokes about oneself, and telling humorous stories about one’s own mistakes, and accepting compliments or awards with a smile or witty remarks as though you are surprised that anyone would think you were outstanding, is an approach that will generate more good feelings and respect than a solemn one.  Besides, it’s a good idea to laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.

The other condition, is the act of laughter itself.  Everybody laughs at something.  Even an adult, who appears humorless, laughed as a child.  The infant laughed when tickled and the child laughed when engaged in play.  As we mature, our senses of humor develop as individualistically as do all our other personal characteristics, resulting in laughter’s mental effect (breaking away the dreads and fears that constitute the basis of so many depressions and lift one out of the hole of despondency).

But no matter what one’s occupation – doctor, lawyer, merchant, military, mailman, etc. – and no matter what level one occupies in the hierarchy of life, the energy of humor can enhance a job, it can improve communication, motivate others and help solve difficult problems.

No wonder funny people are among the most highly regarded in our society.  Not only are they able to lift our spirits, but their talents have socially redeeming value.

Researchers believe that the fact that many comedians grew up in extremely deprived circumstances and that their early lives are marked by suffering, tend to enhance them as equalizers.  For instance, Dudley Moore was born with a clubfoot and one leg shorter than the other.  Both of Carol Burnett’s parents were alcoholics. Totie Field’s mother died of cancer when she was 5.  Art Buchwald’s mother died giving birth to him.  David Steinberg’s brother was shot down in the war.  Charlie Chaplin, as a mere child, did not know where his next meal was coming from.  Jackie Gleason’s father deserted him when he was a young child, and he had to deal with a grieving and disappointed mother for years.  Joe E. Brown left his family to go with the circus when he was 10 years old and endured unending sadistic punishment from the man to whom he had been apprenticed as an acrobat.  W.C. Fields has said that he ran away from home because he thought his father was going to kill him.   Almost all comedians have had to overcome major traumas in order to become comedians.

The previous examples support the fact that a sense of humor and a life style that avoids buildup of anxiety will help protect one from the distress that emotional tension may bring on.  However, when one does suffer from tension, there are three non-medical things one can do: 1) Try meditative relaxation.  2) Engage in vigorous activity, such as swimming, running or tennis.  3) Or, laugh.  Strange as it may seem, of all the countless folk who have lived before our time on the planet, no one is known in history or in legend as having died from laughter.

Humans have tried to understand why they laugh for as long as they have sought to understand their own nature.  Written explanations of humor go back at least as far as the early Greeks.  A sense of humor is a many splendored thing.  It gives one the ability to relax, so that one’s objectivity can help one see the inconsistencies in one’s behavior.  It resolves problems.  It can help shape an attitude, a humorous outlook on life.

The total concept we call a sense of humor, has many levels, from laughter elicited by the antics of a clown, to the more abstract and complex ideas involved in a humorous perception of life. 

Laurence J. Peter, in his book entitled “The Laughter Prescription,” lists those things that are necessary for the development of a sense of humor.  They are as follows:
1. Adopt an attitude of playfulness.

2. Think funny.

3. Laugh at the incongruities in situations involving yourself and others.

4. Only laugh with others for what they do rather than for what they are.

5. Laugh at yourself.

6. Take yourself lightly.

7. Make others laugh.

8. Realize that a sense of humor delivers greater rewards than merely being entertaining. 

Humor is a miracle drug with no bad side effects.  Laughter can stimulate the cardiovascular system, it can produce deep muscle relaxation, which promotes healing, and it can help control pain.  But a sense of humor is more that just laughter.

One must be able to step back from a situation and view it with a degree of detachment.  Separating yourself from an annoying incident is the constructive way of breaking the vicious cycle that causes depression.  As we experience annoyances or disappointments, our mirthfulness decreases.  This may cause us biochemically to become depressed, and may in turn, further dampen our sense of humor, so that we laugh less and continue the downward spiraling pattern of depression.  Psychologically, the ability to see humor in a situation is as important as the laughter itself.  An individual with a good sense of humor is one who can take a comic view of life’s trials and tribulations, and not take it all so seriously, all of the time.  

Considering the fact that we are living in an age where being healthy is in, it would behoove us all to adopt a 99% fat-free, no cholesterol, non-smoking, non-drinking, diet of Humor.  Try it.  You’ll like it!