Last week, while searching the YouTube for something to watch on TV (I’m a millennial, we don’t channel surf, we look for streaming options), I stumbled upon an old episode of the 1970s game show Tattletales.
While some of the answers from the competing celebrity couples about their personal lives got a little PG-13, the tone of the show was good-natured, everyone was having a good time, and the show was funny.
There was nothing nasty, mean, or political about it. It was an enjoyable experience.
It got me thinking and wondering. How did we lose so much of our sense of humor, as a society, in the past 40-plus years?
No time for laughing
Why wouldn’t someone laugh?
We’re in the midst of a divisive pandemic. We’re spatting against each other about every political issue we can find. Everyone is trying to cram their own thoughts, opinions, and feelings down everyone’s throats, and — more the worse — things that are considered as “funny” today can be just plain gross, rude, crude, and downright immoral.
All that being said, despite everything that is wrong with the outside world, regardless of the fact that so much work needs to be done to make everything better, I encourage us all to please . . . lighten up.
Laugh? Why?
There’s a lot to complain about. I know. I do a lot of it myself. But, there is also so much joy and happiness today.
We can do our work so much better if we’re happier, less stressed, and smiling more than we do now.
I’m not advocating for a “fake it ‘til you make it” type attitude, but just don’t lose your sense of humor in the midst of everything going on now.
Your sense of humor is a good motor oil additive to the engine of your lives (ok, that was terrible, but maybe you’ll laugh at how terrible of a metaphor it was).
Please laugh
To help you in this task, I’ve searched for some good and decent jokes to get the humor juices flowing.
Feel free to laugh at these, share them with those you love, share them with those you hate.
• What do dentists call their x-rays? Tooth pics.
• Why should you never trust stairs? They’re always up to something.
• A man walks into a library and orders a hamburger. The librarian says, “This is a library.” The man apologizes and whispers, “I’d like a hamburger, please.”
• People think “icy” is the easiest word to spell. Come to think of it, I see why.
• How many apples grow on a tree? All of them.
• What do Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh have in common? The same middle name.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Don’t you feel better already?
Seriously, though. Find a good funny movie or funny TV show that won’t make you risk a trip to the confessional (YouTube is great for this stuff!).
Search for “clean jokes” online. That’s where I got all of the ones you just read (I never promised quality).
We lose ourselves if we lose our senses of humor (sense of humors?).
Have you ever not felt better after laughing? Laughing at something good, decent, and actually funny.
I worry we are losing the ability to laugh.
Maybe we’re becoming so desensitized that only the extreme makes us laugh.
We all need to help each other lighten up more.
Let yourself laugh. You’ll like it.