Role Of Humor In Life
A good sense of humor can improve nearly every aspect of life, it can improve your mental and physical health and improve your overall leadership skills and attractiveness. Humor is considered a part of the top 5 skills needed for a perfect person. Humor will make everything fun, interesting, stressful, and positively charged.
Life on earth is accompanied by its highs and lows, but man should not get bogged down by the miseries and pain. A man should have poise and sail through the vicissitudes of life by spicing it up with humor. Humor according to the Oxford dictionary defines as the faculty to perceive and enjoy what is ludicrous or amusing in a given situation. Humor is that quality in speech, writing, or action which tends to excite laughter, the capacity for perceiving the amusing or ludicrous.
The total absence of humor renders life restless and dull. It is said that humor is the soul of comedy, the elements of comedy are wit, satire, and farce. All these three elements of comedy are related to the ability to combine words, ideas, situations, etc., to produce a clever type of humor.
Humor helps us cope, conquer, and carry on. It is needed by all and sundry equally. People always try to find out something to laugh at for making their lifeless monotonous. Some people find humor in books, some on television, gossips, cinema, etc. in olden times, people did not have much means of entertainment.
In India, most of the courts were known as patronized court jesters. A jester was attached to the court and had the license to indulge in gibes at the local people, the courtiers, and even his own master, the king. He would utter words of wisdom and subtle criticism, which would never be challenged. The jester, through his gimmicks, could also make the king realize his follies without hurting his sentiments. Tenali Rama was such a jester in the court of Krishna Dev Raya. Birbal is also famous for his clever jokes. He was in the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. These were the people whose jokes are still enjoyed by the people.
Suggested Read: World Laughter Day
Many great literacy figures created a lot of genial humor. Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English writers, is considered to be the first great humorist of Europe. His humor was a combination of wit, fun, gentle humor, and satire. The greatest English dramatist, William Shakespeare, also created a number of comedies, which are still a great source of gentle humor. Shakespeare’s comedies have a mix of wit, satire, humor, and farce since they were meant for the sophisticated and the rustic alike.
Oscar Wilde, the Victorian play writer, has been rated as Britain’s greatest wit. Once, stopped at the US airport to declare his assets, he quipped, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.” When asked to make changes in one of his plays, Wilde protested, “Who am I to tamper with a masterpiece”? There are many other literacy figures who produced great and immortal humor.
It is said, “It is impossible to worry while your laughing” and “Humor cuts stress level to half”. Laughing helps people to stay happy and healthy. It helps people to return to good health when ill. Research in the field of medicine had proved that patients have a better and speedy chance of recovery if initiated with humor therapy.
In the modern world, life is so hectic and fast that people don’t get enough time to relax their mind. As a result, depression, and frustration are common these days. Humor is one of the best solutions to these kinds of diseases as it is said that a sense of humor is the number one survival skill. It always helps if we maintain a sense of humor even in the midst of adversity.
Keeping these things in mind, laughter is indeed a serious business these days, from comedy shows on television to humor slots on FM stations, there is an abundance of mirth everywhere. Comedians are in demand nowadays. A comedy movie attracts people more than action, romance, thriller, or tragedy. When there comes the question of entertainment, people prefer humor as a source of entertainment.
But, humor should also have a class. It is seen nowadays that people create laughter even at one who is stuck in an embarrassing situation. Humor has ceased to be associated with the intellect. It has now degenerated to slapstick comedy. To incite laughter, cheap gimmicks and mannerisms are portrayed on screen.
Our humor should not be fragmented. We should not give humor a casteist or communal touch. We should know how to laugh at ourselves. We cannot deny the role of humor in human life. It is rightfully said “Total absence of humor renders life impossible.
