There are plenty of reasons to be sad, to despair, even to cry. Billionaires running roughshod over our democracy, disasters both natural like the earthquake in New Zealand, and man-made like the House Republicans’ threat to shut down government.
But there is something we have that can trump all of that: laughter. In the words of some wise felines, “We haz its”. That’s not only from being on the right side (as opposed to the Right side, I won’t yield that term to them) of history but, as I also believe, what will be the winning side.
When you watch teabaggers marching, chanting, and carrying signs, besides shades of brown, what’s something you don’t see? I’ll tell you, you don’t see joy. You see anger, hate, and contempt. And if you do see a smile it’s from them imagining some horror inflicted on the targets of those dark and bitter emotions. This is their way and the way of their leadership. People like Dick Cheney, John Boehner, Jim DeMint and Sarah Who™ don’t laugh, they sneer. If they’re laughing at all it’s on their way to the bank.
Contrast that to the protestors in Wisconsin and those at the rallies in support of them. Sure, there are chants and slogans. The speeches are filled with passion, sometimes laced with disgust and anger at what Governor Walker and his owners are trying to do to the workers of the Badger State. But there is also joy there. Real joy. So real that your senses, all of them – even smision, are aware of it. Peels of laughter echo thru the halls of the capitol and beyond.
And that, fellow Kossacks, is why labor and unions are ultimately going to win. They may be beaten in Wisconsin, though I hope not. But they may. However, remember this, joy and laughter aren’t things you need to teach. They’re innate, a fundamental part of who we are. Hate has to be taught, it’s an accessory, added after the factory model ships. And I think that makes laughter more powerful, it's a part of our foundation, of who we are.
I’m not a poet or even a fan of poetry, perhaps that makes me less of a person, I don’t know. But yesterday there was a diary about being a geek and I am one those. I’d like to use my geekhood to provide an example of some words that showed me the power of laughter in the face of hate and despair. I couldn’t find my 30 year old copy of the book but I’ll describe the scene as best I can from memory.
Near the end of The Power That Preserves the main character, Thomas Covenant – an antihero if there ever was one, has beaten the foe to the Land. Lord Foul the Despiser is laid bare, his penumbra of evil stripped away. But he remains, now revealed as a cruel and terrible king. Knowing that raw power will not defeat him Covenant turns to his friend, the giant Saltheart Foamfollower, and asks him to laugh.
And he does. At first it’s a bitter laugh and the others in the cavern, ghosts of those defeated by Lord Foul in the past, do the same. They throw their taunting laughs at Lord Foul like weapons. But then Foamfollower’s laughter begins to change. A joy that is in the ears of those that hear comes forth. It becomes infectious and as the others change their laugher to match Lord Foul cringes. As they continue to laugh with joy the Despiser begins to change. He becomes visibly younger. First a young man, then a youth, a child, and eventually an infant. And while he reverts he fades, becoming more and more of a shade until he vanishes. In the end evil is conquered not by force of steel or theurgy but by laughter. I know it is because of how that victory was achieved, by pure laughter, that I’ve remembered that scene for 30 years.
So laugh, not the bitter laugh of those who hate. But laugh for hope. Laugh for tomorrow. Just laugh.