Pine Nuts – Everybody Has a Funny Bone
December 26, 2022 | McAvoy Lane
Yes, everybody has a funny bone, and it’s the only bone in our body that gives us a longer life. Levity is a healer, and an essential melody of human conversation. In fact, if conversation is music, humor is its jazz. Imagine the musical score that is the Looney Tunes bed for Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner, “Beep Beep!” By the way, Chuck Jones got his idea for that comic series from Mark Twain’s description of the Coyote and the Jackass Rabbit in his book, Roughing It.
To get the full value of levity one must take a step-up from maintaining a sense of humor, and embrace a humorous outlook on life. We must constantly be on the lookout for justifications to be elated. Levity is the grease that keeps the wheels of relaxation rolling, while diminishing depression and anxiety that left unattended, might deliver an early grave.
In this year’s happiest place on Earth, Finland, half the Finns are taking anti-depressants. But thanks to anti-depressants, conversation with friends, religion, and yes, humor, we shall survive, and live to help others survive.
Sometimes painting a humorous picture will elicit a smile. Mark Twain tells us, “I remember the day I was born. Everybody came around to look me over, and I shouldn’t have minded if somebody had paid me a compliment, but nobody did…might have been the mustache.”
As a caution, there are only seven jokes. The rest are variations of those seven jokes. So if your friend is 40 years of age or older, she has probably heard your joke twice before, maybe more. A personal anecdote is always preferable to a moldy old joke, ‘positivity’ being the key to an uplifting anecdote.
As to age, my friends in their 90’s who are active, engaged, and in possession of a sense of humor, are vigorous, productive and healthy. If anything, our sense of humor furnishes us with a felicity to see things in a sunny light.
Mark Twain tells us a little about humor, “Genuine humor is replete with wisdom; and it must do two things to live forever. It must teach and it must preach. If it does those two things effectively, that piece of humor will last forever -which is thirty years.”
Twain’s humor is subtle. He’s not looking so much for a laugh as he is for the hint of a smile, or a nod of acknowledgment. Quote, “I intend to live within my means this year, even if I have to borrow money to do it.”
Is there humor in the Bible? Yes. There is a street in Damascus called, “Straight!” But you really need to see the street to appreciate the humor. So in closing, Pura Vida! Live Joyfully! Vivez Joyeux! And yes, Happy New Year…