HUMOR, LAUGHTER & JOKES

 HUMOR:  The quality that makes something laughable or amusing
LAUGHTER:  Amusement
 JOKING:  Something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement, A mischievous trick; a prank. An amusing or ludicrous incident or situation. A triviality.  To make fun of; tease.
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 HUMOR
 
*** g80 9/8 p. 25 A Sense of Humor—God’s Gift ***Humor is said to be the ability to see the funny or amusing side of things. It is also said to be that quality that appeals to one’s sense of the ludicrous or absurd.
 *** g94 5/22 p. 25 Put Humor Into Your Life ***
 *** g05 4/22 p. 26 Facing Illness With a Sense of Humor ***
 
 QUOTES & SHORT TRUTHS:
 
Humor is a rubber sword — it allows you to make a point without drawing blood. — Mary Hirsch  (Quoted in Readers Digest, January, 2002 page 69)
 I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it. — Frank A. Clark, writer (1911- )
 Warning:  Humor may be hazardous to your illness.
 A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your step as you walk the tightrope of life.  –Wm Ward
 Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.  - Agnes Repplier
 The sixth sense – sense of humor
 Humor to a man is like a feather pillow. It is filled with what is easy to get but gives great comfort.
 
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A LITTLE SENSE OF HUMOR, PLEASE.  (by George Kalista)
 
We were discussing how some people 
Go around wound up so tight,
That something that's of small account
Makes them blow up out of sight.
 
You said: "How funny (strange) it is
they cannot laugh off things,
How they clutch them to their bosom,
and the misery that this brings."
 
You said: "Surely there ought to be
a poem in that somewhere";
And with just a little mouse click
your thoughts flew to here, from there.
 
One again you are a prophet
and your words have proven true;
But a prophet can't be fully sure
what his prophesy will do.
 
When God made up a Platypus,
He surely knew we'd grin.
And a lizard that runs upright
with his widely outspread fin?
 
We also smile quite widely at 
all kinds of newborn things;
And what a giant belly laugh
their wild antics often brings.
 
God's gracious gift of laughter keeps 
our focus from ourselves,
For it turns thoughts out, instead of in;
Onto you; instead of self.
 
A gift that He so kindly gives
is the power for us to see
How we just might look to others
not just how I look to me.
 
And as we stand aside and peer
at such a silly man,
A grin will spread across our face
and our world's alright again.
 
If only more would learn to use
that gift he gives quite free,
The world would be more pleasant
and more happy we all would be.
 
 LAUGHTER
 
*** it-2 p. 208 Laughter ***
 
*** g75 7/22 p. 13 “A Time to Laugh” ***Humor is helpful in coping with difficult situations. 
 
 (Ecclesiastes 7:6) “For as the sound of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the stupid one; and this too is vanity.”   (Laughter at an inappropriate time is as irritating and useless as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot. We do well to guard against it.)
 
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 QUOTES & SHORT TRUTHS:
 
 “A spontaneous burst of laughter is comparable to three minutes of aerobic exercise, whereas ten warm smiles equal ten minutes of intensive rowing.”  *** g05 10/22 p. 28 Watching the World ***
 
 “A dose of comedy taken daily for four weeks has now been found to reduce significantly the symptoms of depression,” reports The Independent of London*** g02 3/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***
 
Laughter stimulates sympathetic nerves, thereby boosting the blood flow to muscles and increasing brain activity *** g02 12/8 p. 28 Watching the World ***
 
They recently revealed their discovery that laughter helps trigger the release of powerful hormones that energize a person’s immune system *** g97 2/22 p. 28 Watching the World ***
 
RESEARCH shows that a prolonged laugh is relaxing and healthy for mind and body. It “can not only relieve stress, but may also increase the chances of surviving a serious illness,” says Your Better Health magazine. It is like “internal jogging *** g93 4/22 p. 31 Therapy for Mind and Body 
  
Laughing has been called inner jogging.  I feel that is what happens when I laugh.  My whole body reacts to laughter with a wonderful, freeing response.  It's as if the trillions of cells throughout my body are experiencing a workout.
 
How good it is to laugh and to share laughter with others.  I thank God for the ability to laugh, for giving me a way to show my delight with life and with all the diverse expressions of life.
 
Sometimes laughter is a personal response to something I am feeling or observing.  At other times, laughter is a union of joy I share with others.  Amazingly, there need be no other reason for laughter than the pure joy of expressing gladness.
 
"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing." -- Psalm 100:1-2 (KJV)
 
 (On Laughter)
         
A book issued by the Army years ago gave all manner of advice to noncommissioned officers.  It even tells how to make men who have quarreled friends again.  The men are put to washing the same window, one outside, the other inside.    Looking at each other, they soon have to laugh and all is forgotten.  It works; I have tried it.     (Cited in the Best of BITS & PIECES)
 
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LAUGHTER:
            ** a brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart
            ** a tranquilizer with no side effects
            ** is Jehovah’s sunshine
            ** is medicine with no side effects.
            ** is the sun that drives winter from the human face
            ** is the jam on the toast of life - it adds flavor, keeps it from becoming too dry, 
                                  and makes it easier to swallow
            **is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles –
                                    it will not take the pot holes out of life but it sure makes the ride smoother.
            ** is like changing a baby’s diaper - it does not permanently solve any problem, but it                     
                                    makes thing more acceptable for awhile
            ** the sensation of feeling good all over but showing it principally in one spot
            ** is by definition healthy
            ** is the closest distance between two people
            ** is an instant vacation
 
If you're too busy to laugh, you're too busy, period.
 
Learn to laugh at yourself.  You'll have a lifelong source of amusement.
 
What amuses a man is a good gauge of his character.
 
If you laugh a lot, when you get older your wrinkles will be in the right places.
 
A good laugh heals a lot of hurts.
 
A man isn't poor if he can still laugh.
 
Laughter loves company even more than misery loves company.

A good laugh and long sleep are the two best cures.
 
If it is sanity you are after, there is no prescription like laughter.
 
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. —  E. E. Cummings (1894 - 1962)

Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself for he shall be constantly amused. (Kalista)

Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.  ~Bob Newhart  

Ill-timed laughter is a dangerous evil.
 
JOKES, JOKING
 
*** w84 9/1 p. 21 Would You Spread a Rumor? ***Even a joke can start a rumor if someone takes it seriously and repeats it.
 
*** w63 6/15 p. 363 par. 7 Flee from Desires Incidental to Youth ***7 Engaging in “practical jokes” is not becoming to any minister of God. These can be most harmful. …So for a moment’s amusement one’s resorting to what he calls a practical joke can be like arrows of death to another. Before playing a practical joke on someone, ask yourself, “How would I like to be the object of the joke?” We should never receive pleasure at the expense of someone else’s embarrassment or hurt.
 
*** w61 9/15 p. 569    WORLDLY “PRACTICAL JOKES” INJURIOUS
Especially you boys and young men, watch your conduct as to this world’s “practical jokes.” Many young persons think it is fun and a big joke to destroy the property of others, or to steal it or injure and disfigure it in some way….. Some young persons think it is a big joke to turn in false fire alarms; others turn in false bomb reports. Some so-called practical jokes not only rob people of their time and energy but may rob them of their health and life itself. Throwing stones at trains and setting fire to someone’s property may kill people; and yet some of the delinquent youths of this world do such things, thinking it is some kind of a joke. It is no joke. It is against man’s law and God’s law. “Practical jokes” can get you in trouble.
 
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(Proverbs 26:18-19) 18 Just like someone mad that is shooting fiery missiles, arrows and death, 19 so is the man that has tricked his fellowman and has said: “Was I not having fun?”
 
(Genesis 19:14) . . .But in the eyes of his sons-in-law he seemed like a man who was joking.
 
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Never risk a joke with someone who is unable to comprehend it.
 
A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.  -Lichtenberg
                   
Joking must have its proper limit.