Goofball
Let there not be any doubt -
proudly I proclaim -
inner goofball will come out,
and I feel no shame.
Case is clear - open and shut -
witnesses avow,
it's a fact that I'm a nut,
please don't save me now!
Let me be a happy fool,
sharing the inane,
not afraid to be uncool;
risking your disdain.
No desire to be aloof
holds my imp at bay.
I was born to be a goof -
I think that's okay.
I don't want to stress about
how I am perceived,
thus I'll let my goofball out -
sorry if you're grieved.
Humour is a saving grace -
when my days are done
may you all say I embraced
the art of having fun.
Sharon Flood Kasenberg, (Undated: found in the unfinished files)
"I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh"
- Maya Angelou
For several days I've been mulling over a subject for another blog post. I read over the bits and pieces of unfinished jottings I keep on file, and even finished a few verses, but nothing hit the spot...until this morning when I rolled out of bed and wrote a lengthy and rather impressive ode to underwear in fifteen minutes flat! That's when I remembered the poem I start this post with, and suddenly my topic was clear...
Sometimes I actually do a bit of slapdash "research" before I write a blog post. I might google a few points or go on Wikipedia. I might even spend a few hours chasing down articles and reading them.
This time you are just getting my thoughts, and a few quotes. Why, you ask? Welllll...I tried typing "things that are universally funny" into my search engine, and most of what came up didn't strike me as all that amusing.
"Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke"
-Steve Martin
Here, for example, is a list of the top ten things that make Americans laugh:
1) Things our kids say. Okay. This one I agree with. My husband and I still laugh about the time our older son, at about age three, walked into a room full of our assembled guests and solemnly asked, "Are Mom and Dad going to put the boys to bed early tonight and have sex?"
Decades later he still amuses. Yesterday he walked into the room where his father was working.
"Huh -" he said. "I didn't think you were home. I didn't hear you Skyping, farting or cursing!"
2) Sitcoms. This one is harder, because it really depends on which sitcoms you're talking about. Some make me laugh, some...not so much.
3) Memes and Animal Videos. Hmmmm...tough sell. Some memes are pretty funny, but generally I think that memes are overused. Double ditto for animal videos. I could happily live without ever seeing another dancing pet, but to each their own. I laugh at about one meme or animal video in ten. Maybe I'm just too fussy?
4) Reality TV. What? Really??? I can think of few things less likely to make me laugh than the ridiculously "unscripted" world of "reality" programs out there. Just NO.
5) Dad jokes. Why is Dad regarded as funnier than Mom? I asked my husband this question, and he looked at me in disbelief.
"Dads are men," he deadpanned. "And men just naturally do more stupid things than women."
Touche.
6) Knock knock jokes. Yup, they were hilarious when I was six.
7) People mispronouncing words. Here's my take on this one: If a person is a humble sort who makes an honest mistake when pronouncing a word, it is unkind to laugh. However, if the person in question is say...Donald Trump - then go ahead and guff it up! Covfefe!
8) Bad photos of people. My rule: If the person in the picture posted it acknowledging it as a funny photo, giggle all you want. If the photo was posted by someone else, with consent, giggle. If the photo was posted without consent, it was probably posted with the intent to humiliate the person depicted, which is mean, not funny.
9) Puns. Clever wordplay always gets two thumbs up!
10) Watching someone trip and fall. Exercise caution before laughing. Most of us know that it looks funny when we trip, but... Therefore, if the person stands up quickly, laughing heartily, feel free to join in, but there's nothing more unfunny than being caught laughing at a person who is thoroughly embarrassed and perhaps hurt.
The only conclusions I came to from this bit of "research" is that humour is extremely subjective, and that maybe my sense of humour is more sophisticated than I thought, in spite of how amused I can be by the subject of underwear.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not; a sense of humour to console him for what he is."
- Francis Bacon
Not to mention what the world is, Francis!
I think laughing is important. Most of us don't do enough of it. Even when I'm feeling quite blue, I can generally manage at least a token snicker once or twice a day, because really - life is pretty ridiculous a whole lot of the time - and even though it often seems like there isn't much to laugh about, the inanities of life tend to collide with my funny bone and temporarily knock me out of the misery zone. I'm grateful for this ability to see a bit of nonsense in a world full of serious problems.
I have become quite interested in Brazil after hosting three students from there. I have interesting and animated messenger conversations with them about the difficulties youth face in that country. In an article I read recently about the problems surrounding post-secondary education in that country - problems created by years of bad leadership - I found the following joke:
God and the angels were admiring God's handiwork after the creation of the world. As they began looking over Brazil, at the beautiful beaches and lush tropical vegetation, the angels began to protest.
"It's too beautiful! Too much like Paradise on earth!" they complained. To which God replied with a chuckle, "Ha! Just wait until you see the losers who will get to run the place!"
I shared this with two of my Brazilian sons, and both found it funny.
"Hah!" responded one. "That is so true it's sad!"
"The first step toward enlightenment is to lighten up on yourself"
-Bashar
I have no idea who Bashar is - or was - but I've come to understand the importance of not always taking myself too seriously. When I was younger, I was often uncertain how I should respond to certain brands of humour. Now that I've given myself permission to unleash my inner goofball, I care a lot less about how I'll be perceived. If I think it's funny, I'll laugh - it's that simple. I might even laugh too long and too loud, and I really don't care whether the people around me are as tickled as I am or not. Spare me from the buzz killing person who feels the urge to say, "it really wasn't that funny, Sharon!"
Honestly, unless the joke was really inappropriate, I'd never say that to anyone else.
I don't think a sense of humour has to be particularly highbrow. Laughter shouldn't be overly complicated. I can laugh at anything I deem amusing, and my standards aren't always that lofty. I like to laugh, and I enjoy watching other people laugh - even when I think the joke is a bit lame.
The world isn't quite as fun as it should be these days, and if life is a theme park ride it has become a rickety old wooden roller coaster that seems destined for imminent collapse. We need things to laugh at more than ever.
As long as your laughter doesn't come at anyone's expense, feel free to guffaw.
Micheal J Fox, a guy who has suffered a few setbacks in life, has this to say -
"I think the scariest person in the world is the person with no sense of humour."
Amen, Michael. This goofball couldn't agree more!
