I Believe in a Good Laugh
Selden Smith
State College, PA
I believe in a good laugh. I’m the youngest child, and we’re known for clowning around, acting up, even breaking things if it gets the family’s eyes turned our way. So I learned early on humor can make you the center of attention.
And if you want to predict whether two people will get along, look at what makes them both laugh. Recently I saw a New Yorker cartoon of two dolphins. One says to the other, “If I could do just one thing before I die, it would be to swim with a middle-aged couple from Connecticut.” Now, not everybody is going to think that’s funny, but I brought it home to my wife, and she cracked up over it. Put it on the fridge. We’re good together. Love may overcome barriers of class, religion, education, even language—but more than anything else, you better find the same things funny.
Humor can also help you get over yourself.
I mean, have you heard the one about the guy who walks into a bar with a frog on his head? “What’s up with that?” says the bartender. “Would you believe,” says the frog, “it started out as a wart on my butt?” Now you see the situation from the frog’s point of view. A good joke changes your perspective. So often our minds just tromp down the same old neural pathways over and over. We’re like hikers who just stare down at the trail, and never check to see if there’s a faster, more interesting way to get somewhere.
But a well-timed punch line breaks you out of that rut. Because it’s delightfully right…but unexpected. That’s how any joke works: you’re led to expect one thing, and you get something else that is, in its twisted way, precisely right. You have to skew your view of the world. And it sticks. Your brain has made a new connection—and I don’t mean figuratively, but literally and physically, just as if you’d learned a new language or dance step. Your synapses got a workout. They’re stronger now.
Laughter also produces endorphins, strengthens your immune system and relieves stress.
I was once on a committee trying to write a chapter of a book. We were stuck on a sentence, quibbling over just the right word. Finally one older fellow from Austria, who spoke three languages, said in exasperation, “Only in English would this ever be a problem!” For some reason this made us all laugh. Stress went down, creativity went up. And a few minutes later, we had the answer.
As for getting over yourself: if you can let your perspective be twisted to the frog’s point of view, maybe you can sympathize with the next human being you see who’s in an unexpected and not entirely pleasant situation. Get yourself a skewed perspective. Make the world a better place. A joke can do that. That’s why I believe in the power of a good laugh.
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