People Make Me Laugh

The single most amusing activity of my life is listening to and observing people. People do make me cry, they do make me mad, they sometimes make me shake my head in disgust, but most of the time people just make me laugh.

Dogs and cats are often funny and people seem to always have their video camera going when their cat or dog does something really funny. But people are funny day after day, week after week, year after year - sometimes they are so funny that you can spray milk out of your nose, if you are not careful. I avoid drinking milk when I am watching people. The risk of a milk spray is just to great.

I recently saw a guy talking to another guy and the entire time he was sticking a pencil in his ear. I do not know what he was probing for but he kept it up during the entire conversation. I am so glad I was not drinking milk when I saw him - I would have had a major explosion of the bovine fluid on my hands.

On my way to work one morning I watched as a woman talked on her cell phone, put on her make-up, brushed her hair, drank her coffee and drove her rather large SUV, at a high rate of speed, all at the same time. OK, I know I should not laugh at this but, it was so funny to see someone who had taken the fine art of multi-tasking to new heights. (or lows, if you are the one she runs over!)

Just recently, I saw a man who left his fly down and his shirt tail was coming out the opening flapping in the wind. He would walk by and people would almost fall down laughing - I had to wonder how he felt when he finally noticed later that his fly was down and that he was flying a flag! Hopefully he laughed heartily about it.

I realize that sometimes laughing at people is just cruel. I have no interest in doing that. Kids were very cruel to kids who looked a bit different when I was in Junior and Senior High. The laughing was often mean spirited and hurt others deeply. I am not talking about that kind of laughing. What I have in mind are just the odd and quirky things we do each day that are just so hilarious. I know that I do them and despite all efforts to be cool, I am far from it. Once when I was about 13 years old, my brother and I went fishing on a small creek and when it started to get dark the skunks came out and starting chasing us and we sprinted with our fishing gear in hand across an open field. It was almost dark so I never saw the single wire about belly high that was in front of me - it was a "hot wire" designed to keep the cows in the field and off the road. I was ahead of my brother in a full sprint when I hit the wire and fell to the ground laying on top of the wire. About every 3 seconds a surge of electricity would hit me and I would scream - my brother on the other hand was laughing his little league hat off his head. I still have great compassion for the shock that cows get when they bump up against a hot wire.

The wisdom of Proverbs says that a "merry heart is good medicine". Laughing is good therapy and I often provide people with excellent opportunities to feel better after they get a big belly laugh watching one of my funny escapades. I am glad to be of service.

I need more good laughter in my life - don't you? Just pay attention to people around you and it will bring a smile to your heart!

Remember: I am watching and listening - do something funny! You can count on me to return the favor!

Just thinking, Steve