This, Our Valley: Finding the funny bone – that’s humerus

 

"Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land … the Lord has sworn … surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” Amos 8 (excerpted)

There is a lot dividing our country right now, but don’t worry, I don’t do politics in this column. It is almost impossible to avoid the topic during these acrimonious times, and while I certainly have my own perspective and opinion(s) on a great many matters facing us, my goal here is and always has been to provide a space in which one can escape the hellscape that is current affairs. 

I want this to be an oasis of calm where one can find tranquility and peace. Not so much an escape from reality, but a place that is as safe as any sanctuary bounded by seven hundred words (give or take a few).

Humor is my coping mechanism. It isn’t that I take serious matters lightly, but I simply perceive them differently. I am not colorblind, and neither is my wife, but we almost never call anything the same color. Where she sees purple, I see violet. Where she sees chartreuse, I see avocado. My truck is a color that you see everywhere, but whereas one of us sees it as bluish, the other sees it as greenish, and the manufacturer calls it something else entirely, neither of which includes blue or green!

Where does humor come from? 

Funny you should ask. I don’t know the answer as I’m neither a scientist nor a doctor. I haven’t studied the brain (my own or anyone else’s for that matter) except for a few cursory psychology courses in college. I do have three quarters of a century of lived experience, so I’ve picked up  scraps of information about life and humor here and there through the ages, but as to why? What makes something funny or not? I don’t know. 

What I do know is that if I obsess over matters about which I have little or no control, I feel miserable. If I have a choice about feeling miserable or cheerful, I look for and find things that promote cheerfulness. Loose synapses and brain chemistry cause me to see things in a way others don’t. That’s just the way God made me. I can cry about it or I can laugh about it. I choose to laugh; I agree with Puck, who said, “Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

There are, of course, some forms of humor I don’t find humorous at all (and which one would not find in the hallowed pages of a family newspaper, or in a preacher’s preaching), so that works out well for me (and the paper, and the church). 

But I do enjoy dad jokes (Where do pirates get their hooks? Second hand stores), puns (a farmer is one who is outstanding in their field), malaprops (Be careful lest you meet the grim creeper), and other forms of wordplay (“Between you and me, something smells,” said one eye to the other). 

I prefer to poke fun at the arrogant (he’s a humble man with much to be humble about) or see the light side of situations (I’m glad war has rules – what we need now are referees).  

I don’t mind poking fun at myself (I identify as intelligent, but haven’t transitioned yet), but I don’t like making fun of other people (unless they REALLY deserve it). 

I enjoy hyperbole (If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a million times, Don’t exaggerate!) as well as incongruity (Why did the elephant paint its toenails red? So you wouldn’t see it hiding in the cherry tree). 

The bottom line for me (which is a funny place to find a line) is that humor can inflame folks (exposing hypocrisy), but it can also change hearts (Ah yes, saving money does make cents). One key to retaining one’s sanity during times of stress is to bear in mind that there is much we cannot control, but we CAN control how we respond to the world around us. 

I prefer to smile – to keep people wondering just what I’ve been up to. So welcome to this, our valley – a parlour where we can parlez-vous in peace.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)