Pink Think: “If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.” – Jennifer Jones
photo by Bill Gracey on Flickr
I have a gazillion things to do and I need to prep for my day (which includes an open mic tonight – more on this later) but I just had to write a quick post about my son’s campaign.
He’s going into junior high next year and ran for class historian (one of four positions) and won. Woo-hoo!!
Apart from the (a) surprise on my part that my usually reserved son put himself out there (“I don’t know if I want to be historian, but campaigning sounds fun”) and (b) joy in seeing my son do well, I thought I would dissect his campaigning a little because it makes me think of how humor is so important in anything – marriage, books, songs, you name it.
My son’s tactic: humor. All the candidates got to put up 12 posters and create a short video. He drew a lot of pun-filled messages and cartoons. Then he and another friend created a hilarious video about Ding-Dongs. (The day they showed everyone’s video, he said a lot were just straightforward, and not really trying for funny.) I’m sure the fact that my son seems generally well-liked at school contributed to his winning, too.
***
There are a lot of things clamoring for our attention nowadays. To stand out, funniness usually helps.
We don’t always have to be funny. That would just be plain tiring. But look at songs, stories, books – funny handled well usually floats to the top. That’s why I gush over my recent reads like Dan Wells’ I Am Not a Serial Killer and Alexander McCall Smith’s Friends, Lovers and Chocolate – it’s because interspersed in the macabre and the cozy mystery are gems of humor.
Men are that they might have joy. I need to get out of my cave and take note of the sunshine!
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