I love to laugh. I mean, I love other things–dark chocolate, books, peanut sauce, my family, Clementine–but laughter? I couldn’t live without it. I love going to see stupid Will Ferrell movies and taking advantage of the darkness of the movie theater to laugh my loudest. I love people who make me laugh, and who laugh when I’m trying to be funny. I seek out The Daily Show and The Colbert Report because I know they’ll ensure my day ends on a chuckle. The only thing that I don’t like (that makes me laugh) is when my younger brother tickles me. Seriously–I rue the day he outweighed and out-talled me. Not that the latter was difficult.
I believe that laughter, in addition to being enjoyable, is important. If I can laugh with someone, I know that I’ve found common ground with them. I use humor a lot in my classroom, too. My lessons are a lot more memorable to my students when they’re enjoyable experiences. And…let me see if I can say this in the right way: I think children should be able to laugh at themselves. I don’t mean they should learn to laugh when bullies are making fun of them, but that it saves them a lot of pain if they don’t take themselves too seriously. As human beings, we’re completely fallible. I say contradictory, stupid things all the time. Sometimes I’m able to laugh at myself and sometimes I’m not. There are kids who do this naturally, but I think it can also be taught. I definitely notice–in my capacity as a teacher–that children are happier when they can see ridiculousness in themselves.
Then, of course, there’s the feeling that laughter gives me. Whether I’m doing it myself, or I’m listening to my niece having a whale of time being lifted into the air, hearing laughter gives me the warm fuzzies. Nothing says well-being like laughter. (I should qualify this by saying that I’mnot including evil or malicious laughter–though they isn’t something I’ve experienced much, outside of the movies or television.) I don’t really know much about the physiological effects of laughter (doesn’t it produce endorphins or something?) and I don’t really care. What I do know is how it makes me feel, and how integral it is to me.
In terms of books and reading, this topic actually surfaced in my mind for two reasons. One, I just started reading Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. I’ve made no secret of my love for SRB and, most recently, she had me rolling on the floor during my reading of Team Human. Man, is that chick hilarious! If you’ve ever seen her tweet-by-tweet recaps of the Vampire Diaries, you know what I’m talking about. My point is this: SRB hits so many of my laugh buttons that I’ve scarcely stopped smiling since I picked up the book. Is she that funny? Well, yes. Her writing makes me want to sit down with her and exchange quips all day. Humor is always the thing that makes me feel a special connection to an author.
Ahem. Not that SRB knows or acknowledges any connection between us.
The other thing that brought up the topic of laughter for me was a recent exchange I had with another blogger. In his Blogfest post, Adam (from Roof Beam Reader) had this as one of his contest rules:
3. Entries are open to residents of the planet Earth only.
To me, this just called for a response. So I left a comment:
This interaction was completely, utterly meaningless. It’s only purpose was to evoke laughter. And that is why I find it so awesome. I don’t just like to seek out opportunities to laugh, I enjoy making them. Because I believe that every time I do, I’m making the world a better place.
Some things that make me laugh:
- The It Crowd
- Television Without Pity
- Regretsy
- Eddie Izzard
- Old Skool How I Met Your Mother
- Bloggers: Small from Small Review, Jenny from Supernatural Snark, the Smart Bitches, Smash from Smash Attack Reads, Amanda from On a Book Bender and Kelly from Reading the Paranormal.
- Go the F*** to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
- Authors: SRB (duh), Marian Keyes, Kiersten White (another funny twitterer), Stephanie Perkins and Cassandra Clare.
I hope you laugh today! (And tomorrow.)
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I so believe in your post . Laughter can also bring someone to happy place.
Thanks! You’re right, laughter is probably one of my most used tools for cheering someone up.
I love laughing too. I find it the best medicine for everything
Great post!
Thank you! We should all laugh as much as we can.
This is one of the best posts (and post ideas) I’ve seen in a long time! Laughter! Fun! Cheer! Why not!?
I adore Colbert and Stewart, too – for the very reason that they talk about serious (and sometimes seriously disturbing) things in a lighter way. We get the news, but we get to poke fun at it. Did you see Colbert on “Oprah’s Next Chapter” last night? Loved it. They talked about how “JOY” is so much more important than ‘Happiness” because when people say they’re “Happy,” they don’t really know what they mean.
Anyway – it seems that meaningless exchange turned out to be a bit meaningful, after all.
Thank you! Why not indeed! Although, I think my attitude is more “Why why not?”
I didn’t see the Colbert/Oprah interview. I wish I had, because that’s a really fantastic distinction. I think half of what I like about Colber and Stewart is that, when I watch them, I know they really, really enjoy their work. And, I appreciate how they see the ridiculous in everything, and especially encourage us to see it in ourselves.
You’re right! That’ll teach me to speak in absolutes (which is another post’s worth of rambles in itself).
Smallsie makes me laugh too.
The images she puts in her reviews crack me up every time (I’m sure you saw that Dawson one? I giggle each time I remember).
Laugh is so important, it just makes you feel like there is hope in the world (you know, in a non-cheesy way)
Aw *HUGS* for you!!! You made me feel all warm and fuzzy
Yes! Her images–I don’t know how she manages to find such perfect ones EVERY time.
I am so glad you wrote this post now because remembering how you made me laugh so hard I had trouble breathing is exactly what I needed to think about now. Every time I see a police officer now, a teeny tiny part of my brain is picturing Little Ruby secretly hoping for The Orphan Talk.
Ah, The Orphan Talk! I occasionally look at my parents now, and feel kind of guilty. But it’s not like I really wished they’d die. It was more that I thought it would be terribly romantic if they did. I blame my incredible youth. And Lurlene McDaniel.