By Venansio Ahabwe
“If you think positively, smile becomes laughter” – Anonymous. Laughter can result from comedy and humour. Entertainers and communicators often deploy humour to attract people’s attention and deliver messages using words and acts which make people laugh. A person who receives good news may laugh as a form of celebration. Welcoming a visitor to one’s place may involve laughter; also an encounter with a friend can cause excitement and laughter. A person who registers an achievement may laugh as a way to celebrate. Indeed, people laugh for different reasons.
In recent times, many people who organise festivals and parties almost always hire skillful humourists – jokers, comedians, satirists – to spice up the events by making people laugh. Funny remarks can be quite enduring and stick in the mind of the listener. Laughter can also be a sign of innocence. It triggers happiness which in turn displays a person’s inner disposition in great measure. I recall a friend during our school days who pushed aside a classmate’s plate and the distracted student ended up dipping his hand into a cup which had been placed in the same place on the table. It was so funny and, like all children, we laughed more out of innocence than malice.
In the Bible, some people laughed while Jesus was about to perform a miracle. An official of the synagogue: Jairus, invited Jesus to attend to a child who was in a critical condition. Unluckily, the child died before Jesus arrived; and the family started mourning. People laughed at Jesus when he told them, “The child is not dead, but asleep” (Mark 38-40 & Matthew 9:23-24). Indeed, Jesus Christ taught that a person who faces suffering should never despair because this is only a passing condition which would ultimately give way for joy and laughter, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21).
The Bible shows also that Abraham was just amused when he heard that his ninety-year-old wife could become pregnant. He was aged ninety-nine and almost died of laughter after hearing his aged wife, Sarah would become pregnant and give birth to a baby boy. “God said, ‘As for Sarai your wife… I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her….’ Then Abraham fell face down and he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And can Sarah who is ninety have a child?” (Genesis 17:15-17). Later, Sarah also laughed when Yahweh visited their home and found Abraham near the oak of Mamre. Abraham treated his three guests to a meal prepared by Sarah, who quietly remained obscured in the tent.
After the meal, Yahweh praised Abraham for his kindness and told him, again, that Sarah would give birth to a baby-boy within a year. Sarah was listening to the conversation and burst into laughter, “Sarah laughed to herself saying, ‘Now that I am old and worn and my husband is an old man, am I to have this pleasure?’ Yahweh said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh…?’ Sarah denied saying, ‘I did not laugh’ for she was afraid. But he said, ‘You did laugh’” (Genesis 18:12-15). When the child was born, laughter was the major thing Sarah thought of, saying: “God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6).
On the other hand, laughter is not always a result of happiness. Some people laugh out of malice, either to embarrass or to celebrate the misfortune of those they do not like. Laugher is hereby used as a hurting mechanism and a form of mockery. It may also be a way to express contempt, demean others; even to cause or increase pain. Yet, people may use laughter to cover up failure, embarrassment or scandal. When individuals argue, for example, sometimes it occurs that the person who fails to raise substantial issues and faces the risk of losing the debate may start to laugh in order to suppress and close the discussion. This may mean that the person who started laughing either wants to claim to have won the argument or simply wants to accept defeat. In this case, laughter has the potential to sooth egos and to divert attention. Laughter therefore, becomes a means for protagonists to avoid cumulative hurdles. Whether real or fake, laughter thus becomes some form of consolation.
On the whole, people derive a lot of benefits from laughing. In an online article about laughing, Oklahoma-based business management consultant, Patrick Allmond says, “Laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones and increases muscle flexion. Laughing increases the circulation of antibodies in the bloodstream and makes us more resistant to infection. Laughter occurs spontaneously and unexpectedly; it catches us by surprise. Laughter helps us create positive emotions and helps us find a frame of mind in which we can more easily cope with the struggles of life. Laughter is a lot like changing a baby’s diaper; it does not permanently solve any problems but it makes things a lot more acceptable for a while.” In It is natural to laugh. Scripture proclaims that there is time for everything, “A time for tears, and a time for laughter…” (Ecclesiastes 3:4a).
