Laugh

During my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to take a class on Shakespeare's Tragedies. Oh, man was I excited for that class. I emailed the professor a month before the semester started to ask which plays he was going to cover so that I could get a head start on my reading. Shakespeare! Shall I compare thee to a summer's day...

I never did get a reply to that email. The professor ended up being one of the most memorable of my college career (Graduate AND Undergrad) because he was a demon, When he would walk down the hall, we would turn and walk in the other direction, literally. No no no, he was not particularly difficult to please, he was just evil incarnate. My classmates and I used to call him Satan. He was prone to making vast generalizations about the world, and I quote: "All fat people are lazy." "You all are so stupid, I don't know why you bother being alive." etc. He was married to the department head, so no one bothered reporting him. Plus, he wasn't even an English professor, but a Communications professor. He spent inordinate amounts of time making us watch old Japanese movies of Macbeth where the characters were all in Samurai costumes. He insisted that you could not understand Shakespeare unless it was being performed. As a class full of English Lit majors, a good bit of us disagreed.

The class was so different from what I expected. But I did take away a lot...mostly because I couldn't believe it was being said. One particular thing has stuck in my mind. This professor said that laughter was a feeling of superiority. Whenever you laugh at someone, it is because their behavior is something you would never do or see yourself above doing. If you could identify with the behavior, you would empathize and not laugh.

Now, I am sure there are lots of exceptions to this rule. Like laughing from pure joy. I laughed when Brother was born. When I saw his little purple self for the first time. Or when you are just happy to be with someone. Or even laughing from having fun, like maybe on a roller coaster. I always get the giggles on roller coasters. It is interesting to think about and a lot of research has been done on laughter. It is a stress response and a coping mechanism. There is a Wikipedia entry and tons of quotes regarding laughter. While far smarter people than me have spent tons of time thinking about laughter, I would just be happy doing it more often.

And so! I will share with you my favorite joke:

Two muffins were in the oven.

First muffin says, "Whew! It's hot in here!"

Second muffin says, "OH MY GOD! A TALKING MUFFIN!"

(Insert Laugh)