Tuesday 29 May 2012

Joking can be bad for the health.

The recent hearings in the court and the comments about them re the twitter joke trial make very interesting reading. I think no one actually on twitter believed that  the remarks about an airport were anything other than a joke born of frustration. .
When a few months later I had a five hour holdup at another airport I had tweets from all and sundry advising me to say nothing!
The problem seems to be a sad lack of a sense of humour. I do realise that what is funny to one person can be thought utterly damaging to another if they fail to get the joke. Humour is personal.
Some of my blogging attempts at humour have also been misconstrued at times...things that were meant as jokes were given as examples of all sorts of  detriment to other people.
In the end it inhibits any sort of joke telling  just in case.....which is very sad indeed.
I try to make my congregations laugh at least once in any sermon...and its always interesting to see who gets it!
Laughter is Gods gift to us, of letting our hair down, of not being brought low by the often grim things that crop up through life.
I have a standard agreement with the local funeral directors that some days if we didn't laugh we'd have to  cry instead.....
So if my sense of humour is sometimes quirky and misplaced I do apologise ....its never my intention to goad anyone, or get at anyone..... I just prefer to smile....and I hope occasionally to make you smile too!

2 comments:

Ray Barnes said...

Couldn't agree more Jean.
Take away humour (however wry) and you take away the essence of life.
Long live humour, in blogs on twitter, but more importantly in every day's verbal exchanges.

UKViewer said...

Surely, humour is part of being a Priest? Our Vicar always has a story or joke as part of a sermon. Often, self-deprecating, he seems to have his fair share of mishaps or misunderstandings which are both humorous and harm no one.

And being humorous is a sign of life, rather than a morbid, miserable existence, where laughter is a stranger and is considered inappropriate.

No, go on cracking jokes and laughing at ourselves is I find a really good way of releasing tension and pressure.

Our weekly parish staff meetings are blessed with a wide range of humour and a curate whose ability as a mimic is deserving of a place in show business. She is also a former English Teacher and really does well in our schools and care homes.

I am as bad as the Vicar and Curate. I seem to be able to see silly things in quite serious subjects and bursting into a giggle or making a comment can lighten things quickly.