GIVE me a sense of humour, Lord; Give me the grace to see a joke, To get some humour out of life, And pass it on to other folk. Ah! Tis easier writing tragedy than crafting comedy! It’s so easy for a writer to bring tears into a reader’s eye, but to force a grin, to see the shadow of a smile, to maybe, just maybe hear the beginning of the sounds of laughter, oh, that isn’t so easy at all!
Every morning my paperboy brings me a pile of newspapers which I carefully read, but first put away the one carrying my column after seeing printer’s devil and author have not made mince meat of writers thought. My wife, she enters, seats herself down, I pretend to be engrossed in the news but wait with bated breath as she reads my piece, then sigh with relief when from corner of my eye I see a smile, sulk when I see none and grin happily when I hear her laughing!
There are times when there’s none of these, and that’s when I pretend I haven’t noticed and ogle the heroines with vengeance on page three! But how often I’ve noticed that what she’s laughed over, what many readers write back to be about with a smile on their pen, doesn’t have the same reaction with someone else. I stagger under a deluge of hate mail from some while hearing laughter from appreciative others. To such as them do I address this piece:
My friend Jack was in the hospital when the new priest from his church arrived. He had sent a message that he would like the priest to call on him but before the man of God could arrive, Jack ordered an extra catheter bag from the hospital pharmacy. Then he filled the bag with his favourite lemonade.
The new priest soon arrived and they talked while. Then at one point, Jack with a twinkle in his eye which the priest didn’t see, reached down and picked up the bag from the side of the bed. He studied it for a moment and then said, “It looks a little thin. Maybe I’ll run it through again.” And he drank from it. After the new priest recovered from shock, Jack told him what the bag actually contained, “Nothing but lemonade Father!” he laughed. The priest laughed out loud with his new friend. And he discovered through the years that Jack brought a valuable gift to life — laughter.
There were two things the priest could have done; walked out in disgust or been mad somebody had played a joke on him! He did neither. He waited for an explanation before jumping to his own conclusions and thus was able to see the joke. So my dear reader, laugh quickly, laugh heartily, laugh often. Sure, it’s good for your body, mind and spirit, but mostly good for we, supposedly humour columnists ..!
