Ever notice that when things get really sh!tty, in the government, in disasters, in the most harrowing of experiences, there is the innate human need to laugh?  You may have noticed lately that comedians have gotten serious about their routines, pulling out all the stops, to make you laugh insanely, to push buttons, to call attention to the ills of the world, and to get us to take a step back and see how f'd up the world really is.  And instead of grieving, we laugh.

There's a saying that I use often, "If I didn't laugh, I'd cry."  It's true.  The most stressful of circumstances, in order to keep my cool, I reach for that good old sense of humor to relieve the tension... my own, usually.  Because I'm a clutz, because I stick my foot in my mouth, because I'm a passionate and emotional person, and tears come easily.  Literally, if I didn't find a reason to laugh, the tears would take over.  Indeed, when someone is having a stressful day and a friend says something hilarious to them, they are often met with gratitude.  "Thanks, I needed a laugh!"

Comedy is part of my religion.  Not in a way as to say that I worship comedy or that it is part of some relgious doctrine or tradition, but it is an integral part of my spirituality.  There are times when I cannot find the release I need without a good laugh, and I also yearn for the brutal honesty of the Fool.

You often hear that the best way to deflect a curse is to laugh, and some "dark mages" banish with laughter after they've conjured up something that isn't funny.  Think of, for example, Disney villains, usually after working some sort of evil magical spell, they go into a fit of maniacal laughter.

Laughter has a double edge to it.  It forever pushes the boundaries of acceptability, causing us to really think about our issues and why we consider something taboo.  It is used to hurt and maim, especially when the subject of humor is someone who is an outsider because of some physical or social deformity.  It divides people from each other, especially when used to make fun of someone's race or social status to the exclusion of others, and sometimes divides people from themselves, when they use laughter as a panacea. 

Humor is an incredible art form.  There are no strict guidelines in how to use it properly.  The formula for comedians, if I remember correctly, is Trajedy + Timing = Comedy.  However, I think that Truth is also a powerful ingredient as well.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that if it isn't true, it isn't funny.  That is, unless the falsehood in the joke is so apparent as to be farcical.  One of my favorite comedians sometimes gets his facts wrong, and while trying to make a joke of it, loses my appreciation for his act.  What wins it back is that for the most part his jokes are powerful, poking a stick in society's soft underbelly of assumptions, stereotypes, and secret urges.  He even pushes racial boundaries, but makes fun of everyone equally.

I have to wonder why the Gods and Powers That Be have annointed Humanity with the gift of laughter.  Were we to be without it, would we get so caught up in the negativity of our minds as to not be able to function? Would other pleasurable activities and emotions lose their ability to give our lives beauty without laughter to remind us that our problems aren't insurmountable?  Would we take our values so seriously that any challenge to those values would result in violence and chaos? 

But we do have laughter.  In our joys and sorrows, laughter connects us all.  To laugh together with our loved ones, or even in an audience, we form bonds with one another of shared thought and emotion.  We forget the pains of bringing offspring in the world when we hear a child laugh for the first time, and we become addicted to the feeling, the sound, the release, and the understanding of something that is funny. 

I speak of laughter as if it were love.  Instead, it is my love of laughter that makes me to speak of it so.  It is such an evocative and provocative force that it should be taken seriously, as seriously as we take all the other emotions. 

But not too seriously.