Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

No Humor, No Life

I don’t know what the world would be like exactly, if humor were to evaporate from it, but I think I wouldn’t be alive. Everyday life is mechanical and full of stress, and as a miracle, would I somehow manage to live, I wouldn’t be any different than a machine. Yet a machine has no feelings; human beings do. The kinds of feelings to fill the void left from humor would not be gentle; they would even be nasty and dangerous. Frankly, I would be afraid of me.

Then if humor took a hike, general health of the people would go down considerably. As it is scientifically proven, humor helps good health and healing. Smiles enlarge the nerves; laughter, boosts the immune system, protects the heart, relaxes the whole body, leaving the muscles relaxed up to 45 minutes, and triggers the release of endorphins, which temporarily relieve or ease pain and let the sense of well-being rule.

In addition, humor is contagious. When laughter is shared, it binds people to one another and increases happiness and intimacy. When little girls giggle together, their friendships are fortified. I know this from experience. When my cousins and I were young kids, we invented situations to laugh at, which bound us together. After several decades, no matter where life takes us, whenever we talk on the phone or manage to get together, we still laugh in unison and enjoy each other’s company.

During my child-raising days, when the going got tough, I used to read Erma Bombeck’s books. I used her sense of humor to boost my daily mood and positive emotional state. Nowadays my little book titled, 1000 unforgettable Senior Moments and Sh*t My Dad Says take their place among my reference books on a shelf next to my computer because I refer to them even more often than any other book.

Plus, I tape stand-up comedians' shows and other comedies for my hubby and me to stay in good emotional condition. Some of the British situation comedies on PBS have been our aids for good health, also, through the years.

If all these positives had been absent from my life, I think my life would have fallen into a bottomless abyss and would have either made me a terrible person or turned me into a corpse before I could live out my first decade.

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Prompt: What kind of world would this be if there was no humor?