Photo taken last Grand Marian Procession at DSPNSDA together with Rev. Fr. Edwin Tirado.
To have a sense of humour is one of the very few truly important things in life. A sense of humour is arguably more important than food, because if you have a sense of humour you can laugh even though you’re starving, while if you laugh too hard on a full stomach, chances are you’ll throw up or at worst even have a stroke.
It’s often said – it’s almost accepted wisdom — that “laughter is the best medicine.” This actually isn’t true. Penicillin according to medical books is not the best medicine, followed by tetracycline and the sulfa drugs. But, judging by what the Duterte Administration’s Foreign Policy relations* policy turn out to be, laughter is the best foreign policy. In fact, laughter serves many purposes. Laughter is the way we cope with conflicting emotions. For example, your favourite auntie/uncle is dying of cancer. You’re sorry she/he’s dying, but she/he’s been in great pain, so you’re also relieved that that soon will be eased. And then, there’s the matter – important matter – of inheritance to sweeten the scenario… Why not kid her/him a bit about it? Put a little skit on; wear her/his bedpan on your head and use the oxygen-tent noises to pretend you’re Darth Vader. Laughter also alleviates fear. Your relative won’t really mind dying now, especially if the bedpan was full and she/he saw your stick your head in it.
Humour can be effective substitute for aggression, the way it was for Roberto Duran in the second Sugar Ray Leonard match. Sugar Ray may have won the fight but it was Duran the spectators laughed at. And humour can also be used as a defence. It was used as a defence in the trial of Richard Speak (the guy who stabbed 8 nurses to death in their dorm, leaving only the Filipina nurse (Corazon Amurao as survivor). Speak’s attorneys claimed their client should be freed because one of the investigating officers at the scene of the crime upon entering the building where all the dead nurses were found, was heard to say, “There something funny going on here!” Some defence, eh?
Even in the very act of butchery there’s humour Remember what the disembowel/ed BANGUS being prepared for drying said as it was sliced open? Its whispered parting words were: “I’m DAING.”
Even if the causes of laughter cannot be exactly defined, there are still several recognizable types of humorous activity. There is PARODY, when you make fun of people who are smarter than you; SATIRE, when you make fun of people who are richer than you; LAMPOON, when you make fun of solemn asses like teetotalers and such; LIMERICK when your recent irreverent strain and indecent tendency are unleased… And a great deal more of these stress-relievers.
*I’ve limited myself, to save on space, to the foreign relations aspect of this seemingly ridiculous administration with its full complement of clownish monkeys. Almost all sectors of this present Philippine government administration do provide sufficient samples of comical turpitude. I heartily subscribe to Joseph Conrad’s biting words in NOSTROMO: “Of course, governments in general, any government anywhere, is a thing of EXQUISITE COMICALITY to a discerning mind.” Now that applies foursquare this government we’re good humouredly taking on sufferance MIENTRAS TANTO.
