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February 2005
I received the photo below at the bottom of a forwarded email.
I read the email first. It said the photo was used in a case study on stress
levels at a prestigious hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the
water. The dolphins are  identical.
A monitored, scientific study of a group revealed that in
spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person
under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. If
there are many differences found between the dolphins, it means
that the person is experiencing a great amount of stress.
The more differences, the greater the stress.
When I scrolled down to the bottom and saw the photo of the “two” dolphins,
I laughed out loud. It was a gut buster. I laughed so hard,
I was almost crying…and I was alone. Looking back on
it now, I’m not sure if I was laughing at the ridiculous
photo, if I was laughing at myself for falling victim to this
prank, or if was laughing at the idea that I could tell the
differences between the dolphins. Either way I was happy to
release pent-up emotion in the form of a rip-roarin’,
side-splittin’, hunka-burnin’ laugh. God, did I
feel good.
After my convulsions stopped, I started thinking about how
serious life is. How little we laugh. In our collective effort
to live our lives with purpose, we have gotten out of the habit
of seeing the light side of life. It seems so tragic to live
life without laughing. Almost like winter without snow; spring
without flowers; summer without swimming; or fall without brilliant
colors.
I’ll tell you one of my guilty pleasures that makes
me laugh. It’s a television show my 13-year-old son started
watching two years ago. When I first heard about this show
and before I had a chance to watch it, I was appalled by the
crude content. It sounded vulgar and infantile. Jordan said,
come on mom, South Park is on, it’s really funny.
At first I was reluctant to sanction such low-brow humor,
until I saw the show. For some odd reason I connected with
the characters and the social commentary they employ. When
eight-year-old Eric Cartman says, I’m not fat, I’m
big boned, I laugh. When Chef, played by uber-cool Isaac Hayes
sings a sleazy, song about making love to a woman, I laugh.
The biggest reason I laugh is because I look at my son laughing.
He looks at me laughing. We look at each other laughing. Then
we laugh because it seems inappropriate to laugh, but we laugh
anyway. It feels so good.
I encourage each and every one of
you to connect with your inner South Park. Find something
in your life that makes you laugh. Do something out of
character for a bit of comic relief. Tell a joke. Go see
a comic. Rent a comedic film. Lighten the load for others.
Have some fun. It’s very hard to be serious when
you laugh. It feels so good.
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