A Humorous Man's Struggle With The Humorless

If you can’t get someone to think or laugh, you can forget about everything else! : Srini E.

This is one of my most favorite quotes, and if you are wondering who Srini E is, that’s me!

I have always wondered how they grew up, what keeps them busy and how the hell they live.

I won’t start with a story that is decades old and puts the reader to sleep even before I can get to my actual point. So let’s just say I am “endowed” with a great sense of humor. I can get anyone to laugh within minutes, if I am convinced they are not assholes. I see humor in everything except matters of life and death. And given life and death are the only constants, shouldn’t the time in between be treated like a joke?

Not really, if you have met some of the serious and seriously depressed individuals I have stumbled upon. I have always wondered how they grew up, what keeps them busy and how the hell they live.

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Humor is a people magnet. You attract people from all walks of life if you know how to make them laugh. You make it hard for them to say no to you. You can be an asshole but people will have no clue if you are humorous. You can hide the awkwardness in you with humor. You can hide the truth with humor. You can convey some of the most serious messages with a joke (not the other way around for god’s sake). You can get strangers to be curious about you. Only with humor can you increase or decrease sexual tension. You don’t need to train your muscles to remain attractive, if you have adequately trained the funny bone in your body. You can change values and beliefs with humor (watch the Indian movie “PK” if you don’t believe me). You can stand apart from or mix into a crowd with humor.

Reach out more to people who don’t readily appreciate jokes or aren’t used to it.

The world is so full of bad news these days that jokes are the only good news. And if you are one of those that will only believe in a cliche, laughing keeps you “young at heart” (eww!). But is that it? Being affable by making people laugh—is that all there is to being witty? Sounds a bit pointless after a while, doesn’t it?

Why should you always entertain others, unless you are—like me—passionate about reading people and understanding what drives them to be who they are? The more I understand the humorless, the more I realize how wrong I was about them. It becomes clear to me that humourless people too are driven to be without humor. Some of them are indeed the cheerful people we all are but were dealt some serious blows in their personal lives—stuff you or I can’t imagine enduring. Some of them were born with many challenges (not just physical) and are doing such a great job of continually overcoming them that they don’t have time for humor. Some of them didn’t grow up in an environment where humor was even fun. And many of them have been successful in achieving what they want—by just being serious.

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However, with a bit more effort than usual, I realise that I can touch their lives by making them laugh. They may not be funny but they either appreciate or enjoy humor, which makes me believe that we just haven’t tried enough to make them laugh. We naturally choose our equals and humorless people do the same too. So if you are like me, and proud of the awesome lines your mind weaves, reach out more to people who don’t readily appreciate jokes or aren’t used to it. Most of them are fighting personal battles that you can’t even imagine. Laughing with them (even after a few attempts) is probably the best thing you can do to touch their lives.

And if touching or changing lives is not the purpose of your life, you are a joke yourself!

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