ABC Wednesday L is for Laughter, Life and Love

Laughter, Life and Love - these are three words without which we could not, should not live (especially the second)

Are they intertwined, mutually dependent? I thought long and hard superficially about this as I attempted to sleep last night. The thinking wore me out bored me so I soon fell asleep.

I wonder whether I could spend any appreciable time with a humourless person. I haven’t met many who belong in this category though several have fitted the ‘takes him/herself too seriously’ set but then what makes me laugh may leave other people cold and vice versa. When others are rolling in the aisles chortling at slapstick or practical jokes my face is stony so then I’m the one without a sense of humour. I do know that the people with whom I spend most of my time – my family – frequently have me gasping for air as I giggle inanely at something one of them has said or done. Unfortunately, once I start guffawing I find it very hard to stop even though my face is wet with tears and my sides are aching and I’m attracting attention from strangers. I know that sharing my life with someone lacking a sense of humour, of the ridiculous, would be impossible for me.

It’s generally agreed that I’m quiet a misery in the mornings. I am either silent or aggressively monosyllabic. I couldn’t live with someone like me! On the extremely rare occasions that I start the morning in light-hearted mood I can guarantee that the day will not end well but when I’m in a bad mood Barry makes me laugh in spite of myself. He laughs a lot which belies his serious, deep-thinking character.

Life – of course we can’t live without it but the life I mean is enthusiasm, interest in others, a desire need to learn new things and different skills, to experience and try to understand what makes other people the characters personalities they are. Living in a rut is safe but the world is full of surprises and by that I don’t mean that travel is essential. To some people, of course, it is, but travel means little when interests may encompass space and deep sea, the inner workings of microbes or the deep resonant singing of a Russian basso profondo.

Love – it makes the world go round, apparently! There are many different aspects to love. Self-love is the most destructive and equally love or faith that becomes fanatical is dangerous. The Prophet Mohammed said, ‘Beware of extremism in religion; for it was extremism in religion that destroyed those who went before you.’

We love our family and our friends and also our pets, but we profess to love inanimate objects too and nature. Maybe it’s a different kind of love in each case but it fulfils a need in us and makes us feel happier. If we are happy we interact more kindly with each other. If we can make others happy there is at least a double benefit. Marcel Proust wrote, ‘Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls bloom.’

Finally, (‘At last’, you sigh, if you’re still reading this! And if you are, thank you!) Laughter, Life and Love need expression in activity, in play.

Friedrich Nietzsche – ‘In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.’ Amen to that and long may it be so.

Laud and thanksgiving to the Lovely Denise Nesbitt and her Loveably Loyal Lads and Lasses who organise and host this sometimes Loquacious meme. To see more Ls on earth, please click here.