Lol :)

My wife has a funny sense of humor. Last night she said, "What do you think it was like for the first person that laughed? How did they know that what they were laughing at was funny? and What was their reaction to the sound that they made?" Weird, huh?

Well it made me start thinking about how kids develop their own sense of humor and about how many different laughs there are. Why is it that some things appear to be funny to us and not to others? How much of it depends on our perspective and how much is just funny?

Picture a man about 6 ft tall (around 1.8 meters). He has a large forehead that is emphasized by a receding hairline. Now picture seeing him from a two year old's height. I was with Hannah in the church kitchen when this happened . She just started giggling. So I asked, "What's so funny?" She pointed right at the guy's head and said in a loud, giggling two year old voice, "Daddy, that man's head's too big!"

I'm sure that from her perspective, it was. Heck, I look the guy right in the eye and could say that he had a big head. But why was it funny?

When Aaron was only a few months old, he would sometimes pretend to be asleep when we came into his room in the morning. His eyes would be closed but there was this big smile on his face. If he wasn't smiling at first, he would be as soon as you said, "Aaron, time to wake up. I think he's still asleep. Should we let him sleep a little longer?" The more we would talk about "waking him" the harder he would pretend to be asleep with only that big smile to give him away. Again, how did he know that was funny?

And why is it funny when people are clumsy and hurt themselves? I remember once when a boss of mine walked right into a sliding glass door that he thought was open. Oh my gosh! It was all I could do to keep from laughing. Or the time that Hannah and I were out with the horses and the young gelding got out from under me. There I am lying flat on my back in the pasture with the wind knocked out of me when Hannah comes galloping up on her horse. At least she asked if I was all right before she started laughing!

And laughs can be funny, too. From little chuckles to all out guffaws. Some girlish giggles, some hearty ha ha ha's, some that snort when they laugh. There really is nothing like a good sustained laugh to clear the body, mind and spirit of what ever ails you. And laughing is contagious! I hope that you have the opportunity to laugh today. Make it cleansing laugh. Even if life has you down a bit, fight back with a good laugh.

And when you're finished, after you've caught your breath and regained your composure, come back here and tell me why you thought whatever you were laughing at was funny. I really want to know.

John

" The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."
Mark Twain