“Anyone without a sense of humor is at the mercy of everyone else” (William Rotsler).
ON THIS DAY EVERY YEAR, PRACTICAL JOKES ARE TRADITIONALLY ACCEPTED AND EVEN ENCOURAGED. Today of all days, “anyone without a sense of humor is at the mercy of everyone else.”
Some of us need more than one such day a year. We take ourselves too seriously, like Queen Victoria of England, who would cut off individuals guilty of being humorous in her presence with the stiff reply, “The Queen is not amused.” Thus, the Victorian Age, which is named for her, is remembered for some good things, but amusement is not one of them. The Queen was not a comedian.
Not many of us would like to discover that we’re perceived as a stuffed shirt or a killjoy. We like people who can be easily amused, and we’d prefer to be viewed that way ourselves. Too often, however, we let the weighty issues of life drag us down into a place where there’s very little amusement. Our faces freeze into a frown. So we could profit from a day once in a while, like today, when a bit of humor is forced upon us. “Humor,” as Jan McKeithen said, “is a hole that lets the sawdust out of a stuffed shirt.”
The ability to amuse and be amused is a quality worth cultivating if it’s not already a part of our character. It may seem inconsistent to talk about “working on” our amusement, but that may, in fact, be what we need to do. Making some conscious decisions to loosen up and learn how to be both the amuser and the amusee is wise. Doing so pays worthwhile dividends (for example, contributing to health and longer life). The breaking-in period may be uncomfortable, as when we’re learning to like a new pair of shoes, but eventually the capacity for genuine, healthy amusement will be worth acquiring.
Amusement is a part of what makes for rich relationships with other human beings. If we want our relationships to be multi-layered and many-dimensioned, we should aspire to having more than one kind of influence. We certainly need to work on being able to teach, inspire, and encourage. But, personally, I also want to be able to amuse. And those whom I count as my dearest friends are those whom I know I can amuse now and then. How about you?
“We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for our ability to amuse them” (Evelyn Waugh).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
