Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Just A Part Of Living...!


Have you ever noticed that babies learn very early to laugh and giggle? Of course, they don't have any trouble crying a lot either!

The point is, for babies this is the only form of communication they know! Somewhere along the way, as we become older and wiser...we seem to think that some form of laughing and crying is wrong. We start thinking that one is a shallow emotion, and the other is a sign of weakness. Sort of makes you wonder about the "wiser" part, doesn't it?

I personally think that men have the biggest problem with shedding a tear or two from time to time, but I'll be honest with you...I wouldn't give you two cents for a man that couldn't cry once in a while! I'm not talking about a whiner or cry-baby, but someone that doesn't get embarrassed for having his eyes tear up with the playing of the National Anthem or seeing the sadness in another person's face or hearing the wailing cry of a hungry child!

By the same token, I would not have any respect for someone that couldn't grin a bit at the humor in some of the things life throws our way. One of nature's most precious gifts is the ability to laugh out loud, especially at ourselves from time to time!

Wiser men than I have said it so much better. I wanted to pass on some of the quotes that touch on this emotion!

Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.
Victor Borge

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.
Leo Rosten

Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully.
Max Eastman

I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor.
Edward Albee

I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it.
Frank Howard Clark

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi

If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.
Jennifer Jones

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
Francis Bacon

One doesn't have a sense of humor. It has you.
Larry Gelbart

The more I live, the more I think that humor is the saving sense.
Jacob August Riis

There is no defense against adverse fortune which is so effectual as an habitual sense of humor.
Thomas W. Higginson

When humor goes, there goes civilization.
Erma Bombeck

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.
Bill Cosby

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Henry Ward Beecher

A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.
Mignon McLaughlin

A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.
Hugh Sidey

A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.
Jessamyn West

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
William Arthur Ward

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
E. B. White

Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.
Sid Caesar

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
Peter Ustinov

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
William James

Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.
Agnes Repplier

Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals.
Agnes Repplier

Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Mel Brooks

Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.
Mark Twain

Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn.
Irvin S. Cobb

Humor is reason gone mad.
Groucho Marx

Try and find a little time in your day to smile at something, but whatever you do...don't forget that it's only human to cry when you need to! Ater all tears help to water the flower beds of life!

Now, my friends, let's get some coffee and sit outside before the rain get here, OK?

19 comments:

Ken said...

...my sense of humor,and my imagination...still have lots of each,but both are disappearing too quickly...lol

...thanx Jim...

HermitJim said...

Hey Ken...
If my memory was as strong as my sense of humor...I might be able to find a lot of lost items, ya know?

Hey, thanks for coming by, my man!

Sue said...

I often see these folks that can't crack a smile for the world. I've been through some hellish misery in my life, and never forgot how to smile(even tho sometimes it was a FORCED smile!). Makes one wonder just what is going on in their lives that they're so miserable....

HermitJim said...

Hey Sue...
I think that some folks have what I call a "martyr complex"! It seems that they are not happy unless they are feeling that everything is against them. no body loves them, and the world owes them something!

Sad, really! I would be lost if I couldn't find something to smile about every day...even if it's myself!

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Rae said...

Great quotes and I agree with your perspective about crying and laughing. It would certainly be a much better world if everyone did a bit of both. More on the laughing side though.

Anonymous said...

You've probably seen this, but just in case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_mBLWpdwnI

Enjoy your coffee.

Baby Sis said...

Bubba -
I think I take after Daddy - I can remember him laughing so hard he was crying, but making hardly a sound- just a little puff of wind. I laugh inside often, and smile a lot, but the big, loud belly laughs don't come as easily to me as some others. But, oh so much better than those phony throw your head back snorts that some I know can do! Yuk! And my DH can cry more easily in a movie than I, and he's the dearer to me for doing so. Let's sit back with coffee and laugh at some more "rememberings", ok? And no "while you're ups"!

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special One, Great post. Yes smiling seems to not come often enough in people these days. Much to much anger. Me I laugh as much as I can and its mostly at me and the things I do these days. I do try to bring laughter to others as often as I can.
Coffee sounds delightful as the morning is brisk. AHHHHH yes I love it. But no rain for us.
Grand Canyon in the 50s.

Anonymous said...

Great post Jim;
Laugh till you cry? We need to do both. But hopefully more laughter.

Coffee time.

See Ya

Phelan said...

I am finally getting out of my gritchiness, but people don't get my humor. ah well, it makes me laugh

HermitJim said...

Hey Rae...
That would be nice, wouldn't it? As we all know, laughter is contagious...so when we got started, we could infect the world!

Now THAT'S an infection we could do with!

Thanks for coming by, Rae!


Hey Kris...
I appreciate the link today! Glad you could come over...I appreciate it!



Hey Sis...
I can remember dad liking the Roadrunner cartoons, and all Jerry Lewis movies! He did laugh at those!

I hadn't thought of the "while you're ups" in a long time! Makes me grin!

Thanks for the visit this morning, sis!


Hey JoJo...
You're right about there being way too much anger in the world! Besides, when you smile for no reason, it makes folks wonder what you're up to, ya know?

Supposed to be cool here today...and rainy! We'll see what happens!

Thanks, sweetie, for coming by!


Hey Tony...
I'm with you, buddy! More laughter on the menu...!Certainly can't hurt!

Thanks for stopping by today, my friend!

HermitJim said...

Hey Phelan...
That's the main thing...that it makes you laugh! Much healthier and besides, it attracts a positive energy!

Thank you for the visit, Phelan!

Felinae said...

I am like Ken. My sense of humor and imagination are doing quite well and they don't seem to want to go anywhere anytime soon. Which is fine by me. :D

It's not my fault(at least I hope it isn't)if other people don't get my sense of humor. I can't really blame them though, it is rather warped. LOL!

Have a good day, Uncle Hermit, may it be filled with laughter and smiles.

Hugs to you~
~Felinae~

HermitJim said...

Hey Felinae...
A warped sense of humor sounds like my kind of person! After all, variety is the spice of life, isn't it?

While my day may not be exactually filled with laughter, you can bet there will be a healthy dose of it around...!

Thanks for coming by, my friend!

MamaHen said...

A very good reminder today! thanks!

HermitJim said...

Hey ER...
Always my pleasure, my friend! Always my pleasure...!

Thanks for coming by today!

Kyddryn said...

I was trying to think of some way to relate my family's humor - especially Mum's and mine...

There have been so many tears, so much sorrow, hurt, and ugliness in our combined lives that we'd be bitter, empty people without laughter.

All I could think of was this: Last year, my Aunt (Mum's brother's wife) was diagnosed with inoperable, terminal pancreatic cancer. Not funny. She was told she could take treatment and maybe have a year, or go without and have a few months. At first, she wasn't going to have treatment - chemo and radiation meant no more playing in the sun, on the water, being active outdoors where she loved to be.

My response to the news? "Well..at least she won't have to worry about skin cancer." Yep. We laughed until tears rolled down our faces...

Well...maybe it's not that funny unless you were there...

Thanks for the terrific quotes...

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

Anonymous said...

I will never forget the laughs of my daughter when she was so little.

she didnt cry much, I like to sing an old hee haw song and cry at the end of it. come to think of it every time I sing people cry... lol

HermitJim said...

Hey K...
See? That's the kind of positive outlook we all could use! When you can't change a thing, then you must try and find some kind of humor to use against it.

It may not change things, but it brings a bit of inner strength and peace...and maybe that's enough!

Thanks so much for coming by!


Hey OGT...
Not much compares to the sound of a child's laughter, for sure!

Thanks for the warning about your singing, buddy!

Make you a deal! I won't sing if you don't, OK?

Thanks for coming by today, my friend!