Saving The World One Laugh At A Time

Many years back, my father in law Tom Young lost his brother. He came to visit us at our house in the San Fernando Valley, and it was clear to me that this tall, strong, tightly-wrapped man was nearly buckling with grief, but couldn’t let it go. Just…couldn’t. Stereotypical male reaction: the world doesn’t care how you feel, just what you do. You learn to bury pain and fear deep within you, to the point that it can affect your capacity to love and enjoy life. Part of the price we pay for being human, gender roles cutting off pieces of our Self to fit the boxes constructed by both males and females to keep males and females in the boxes that produce maximum grandchildren over time.

Tribal survival is a bitch.

Anyway, I was watching him, realizing that this good man was tip-toeing across thin ice. If he buried the emotions, that fear and grief would eat him alive. Literally shorten his life. But what could I do?

I played AIRPLANE for him. He’d never seen it. And after five minutes, he was laughing uncontrollably. And then weeping. And laughing. And then weeping. And then laughing…and the tears that came by the end were clean. And he was on his way to healing.

THAT is the power of humor. Thank God we have it. The ability to embrace the absurdity of life, that we will lose everything we love, but CANNOT allow the fear of that loss to stop us from loving, from caring, from doing all we can in life even though that life is finite…laughter is amazing.