Laughter, The Best Medicine

Anyone who has picked up a Reader's Digest magazine recognizes that title. Laughter really is the best for helping people deal with all sorts of situation, including health issues.

But people have all sorts of senses of humour. Some people prefer the old classic form of humour. Other people prefer slapstick. Some people prefer  what is referred to as "body humour" where various parts of the body are used, like making noises with your underarms. Some people like profane humour.

Myself, I like the classics, where humour is used without profanity or rude noises and the jokes are funny on their own. I also enjoy slapstick comedy. I guess that's one reason why I like British comedies, they combine both.

On top of that, I have a twisted sense of humour. I can find something funny in things other people find shocking or are very serious about. I also like puns, which can be a bad thing. Some times.

One thing that practically everyone agrees is important is having laughter in their lives. There are some people who follow religions where laughter is considered evil or bad unless in very certain circumstances. I don't know how that belief got started unless the founders of those religions had met someone like me. In which case I would love to go back in time and get the people like me to be more careful.

I guess that's something I have trouble understanding with certain people. How can something that makes us feel good be wrong? If there is a deity out there, then wasn't our sense of humour a gift to us to be shared? I don't mean that making fun of someone is a good use of humour. It isn't. But sharing in things that make us feel better must be right.

Of course, that leads into a philosophical debate involving religion and I'm not going there.

Laughter helps us be healthier too. We need to bring more laughter into the world. But please people, no profanity. If the joke can't stand on it's on without profanity then it isn't funny to begin with and should be quietly buried. I'll do my best not to make puns except with people I know also enjoy them.

Well. I'll try anyway. :P