EDITOR’S NOTE
Adventures in Funny Business
Over the years, I’ve found many things funny and have occasionally paid a steep price for my misjudgment.
When I was old enough to know better, a priest stopped Mass and scolded my cousins and me for our disruptive giggling in the choir loft. He sternly directed us to the front pew; we barely held in our laughter on our walk of should-be shame.
I spent a summer working off a fine because a police officer said I didn’t seem remorseful when I got caught trying to outsmart a driver’s license examiner. My cool-headed explanation (my opinion) and smirk (his opinion) did me in. Badge beats brash every time.
I’ve found humor in traditionally inappropriate situations more times than I can count: funerals, accidents, chemotherapy, broken relationships and broken promises. Like crooked branches that didn’t get pruned, the default-to-funny gene grows throughout my family tree. We joke about most things, even when we probably shouldn’t.
All of us find ourselves in awful and absurd places; no two people handle them the same way. Despite my experiences with priests, cops, crabby people and impossible circumstances, my reflex is to look for a thread of humor and hang on to it like a lifeline.
Re-set
What’s so funny? He’s funny in the head. I have a funny feeling. Dark humor. Ill humored. Gallows humor.
Humor gets a bad rap and little encouragement. Giggles, goofiness and guffaws are likely to earn admonishment, annoyance and antipathy rather than appreciation. We (most of us) learned that lesson early and carry it like an overstuffed bag, tamping back our inclinations and hoping no one notices our lousy packing job.
As we age, we’re counseled to see the humor in life. It’s good for us, experts say. Stress, blood pressure, mental health; the humor-benefit arena is big and encompasses a lot. Our job is to find our way back in.
If you’re having a tough time finding your funny, we’ve got a story for you starting on page 18. Two local humor experts talk about the role it’s played in their lives and how they’re sharing it with others. Did you know you can take an improv class specifically for people 55 and older? Now that’s fun.
Switching to something serious, we have a story about workplace discrimination that you’ll want to read. I’m hearing more and more about friends and acquaintances getting downsized, demoted or forced out. Is it competence or age at the root of these job shakeups? We explore the differences and what to do about it, starting on page 16.
Now that we’re in the thick of winter, I’m badly in need of a good laugh, the kind that makes my eyes cry and my belly hurt. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a giggle fit in church, and I avoid getting on the bad side of police officers, so those options are off the table.
I’m iPhone shopping with my 90-year-old dad this week—fertile ground for humor. My concern is that he’ll be the only one laughing. With fewer years of experience under my belt, I may need to dig deep for this project. Dad will be fine. He’s taught me that life is absurdly funny if you stick around long enough to learn the lesson.
