Some of my earliest memories with my father revolve around humor. He loved comedy whether it came in a cartoon, a book or a television program. His laughter would reverberate throughout the house filling the rooms with a kind of unadulterated joy. Comedy was second only to Texas A&M football in his list of favorite pastimes and he often shared his passion for both with me even though I was still a very young child. Somehow he understood the importance of laughter and left me a legacy of moments when we giggled together at the antics of Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, Sid Caesar, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and Jonathan Winters. I knew them all and reveled in the joy that they brought into our home. 

I may have watched some of the best comedians on the planet with my dad but unlike him I have never been particularly good at delivering a joke with the skill needed to bring down the house in gales of laughter. Somehow I always mess up the punch line or mangle the recitation enough to end up with my audience staring at me in dead silence. I learned a long time ago that I can totally enjoy a good joke but I do best not to even attempt to be humorous. It’s a skill better honed by my youngest brother who didn’t even have time to yuck it up with our father but somehow received his tickle bone genes. My daddy’s DNA seems to be very much intact inside the mind of the one person on this earth who looks, acts and sounds the most like him, my brother, Pat. 

One of the things I love most about people is their ability to laugh at the world around them. Having a great sense of humor is a necessity most especially in difficult times. I don’t like jokes that purposely hurt people but I do love a good dig at society’s flaws. I don’t think it is funny to poke fun at races or cultures but taking aim at the often ridiculous ideas of politicians is fair game in my mind. I love a really good editorial cartoon or a creative meme that somehow says it all. I often find myself wishing that my father had lived long enough to enjoy the genius of people like Robin Williams and George Carlin. I have little doubt that he would be tuning in to Saturday Night Live each week. It was the creativity of a joke that tickled his funny bone. 

I have to admit that social media is a treasure trove of jokes that my dad would have loved. I see things every single day that make me let out a hardy laugh. The act of giggling is almost medicinal to me. It makes me feel good all over. 

My students almost always discovered my propensity for laugher. The funniest kids in the room never failed to send me into fits of giggling. They knew exactly how to push my buttons to take me temporarily away from the seriousness of solving an equation. One entertaining second united us in short breaks from reality and in many ways allowed us to refocus without the anxiety that had only minutes before hung in the air. 

I was often chided by some of my more serious colleagues who thought that it was somewhat egregious to allow the naughty students to get me off task. They did not know that I had learned the power of a momentary pause for humor. Those intervals brought us all together and pushed the anxieties out of the way. Luckily many of the principals for whom I worked were as guilty of using humor in the classroom as I was and so they appreciated my brief forays into the comedy of everyday life. 

I am attracted to people who like to laugh like a moth to fire. I have friends who post daily puns. I have worked with people who were so irreverent that I almost busted a gut laughing at their hilarious observations about the world around us. I even learned from an Irish acquaintance how funerals and wakes might lead to stories that send waves of joyous laughter through the mourners. Somehow I seem to seek out the joke tellers in our midst. 

Of course there are moments so tragic that comedy would feel grossly inappropriate but a bit of well meaning levity now and again is a kind of panacea for difficult times. I suspect that the jokers among us are as important for our mental health as the ministers and therapists. We humans know how to laugh because it is important to do so now and again. Even a baby understands this incredible gift that we have. 

So if you are feeling a bit low find someone who might be able to tickle your funny bone and bring out that most beautiful of our emotions. A good laugh really is the best medicine.