Friendly, Happy Foolishness

Do you have a childlike spirit?

Do you look forward to April Fools Day?

Shakespeare wrote: "The world is too much with us soon and late" or something approximating that. I would agree, though I am not ostrich-like.

I could easily name 10 "bad guys" in the world today, without even mentioning "bad gals" and the various mafioso.

Be that as it may, I try to make friendly, happy foolishness a part of my every day.

I don't have to be a professional comedian to make people laugh out loud. I just try to remember things that made me laugh out loud, and then repeat them.

For example? One that comes to mind was an old quote from Dorothy Lamour when she was asked about what it was like to make films like "The Road To Morocco" and others she made with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. She replied "I felt like a slice of bread between two slices of ham."

Or, there is an observation going around that says "Some people are like a Slinky™, only entertaining after you push them down the stairs."

As we age we are inclined to get some achy joints and complain about them, but two longtime friends in their 80's were talking and the first said that he ached in every joint of his body and asked his pal why it was that being the same age he never complained of such aches and pains. His friend replied that he felt like a newborn baby feels....bald, no teeth, and feeling as if he might just have wet his diaper!

Now I could spend my year thinking up some fantastic prank to play on friends, family, and associates on April Fools Day, but I prefer to spread a little good cheer and some good laughs each day.

We are told, hopefully on good authority, that we each need seven hugs seven days a week. I think we need seven shared smiles and seven shared laughs seven days a week with the seven hugs thrown in for good measure.

I like telling people where Peter Piper's picked peck of pickled peppers actually is (http://perspycacious.hubpages.com/hub/Humor-Peter-Pipers-Pickles-Found-A-Variation-On-The-Famous-Tongue-Twister) or inventing a tale about a Czech chicken checker (you can find at http://perspycacious.hubpages.com/hub/Humor-I-Hope-Checking-Chickens).

One of my practiced tales is about two baby skunks which were given distinctive names (In and Out) by their mother who found it to be a problem because whenever In was in, Out was out, and whenever Out was in, In was out, to the point that one day Out was in and In was out, causing mother skunk to send Out to bring In in. Very soon afterwards Out came in with In, and mother skunk asked Out how he found In so quickly, to which Out replied "Instinct" or did he say "In stinked"?

I originally read a version of that in a "Junior Scholastic Reader" back in grade school, added my own ins and outs over the years to make it all flow nicely and quickly whenever I can introduce a favorite joke into the conversation. I then ask for another person's favorite joke and sometimes I even remember those to share sometime later.

It is said that Bob Hope's personal and professional collection of jokes is massive, and comedians would do well to build their own collections.

I recently heard a husband mention that "I used to be taller, but then I married and settled down." Whether that was his own turn of phrase or something borrowed, I don't know, but I chuckled along with the others present at the time.

Make some friendly, happy foolishness a part of your day. Mention what some dumb robber did when he wrote his demand for money at a bank on one of his own deposit slips, or one of the darnedest things a child said, or grab a Reader's Digest issue and think about the laughs that can come from their "Heard Any Good Ones Lately" page.

That's just it! The good ones are worth repeating as friendly, happy foolishness.

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© 2015 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.