5.9.12

What do you do with yourself when you begin to find out just how ridiculously serious you take yourself? Laugh, I think - chortle, guffaw even. I guess you've got to, right? Trouble is: laughing at myself sometimes makes me feel like I've wasted so much time, you know? I mean, what was I doing that whole time when I wasn't laughing?

But I guess seriousness isn't bad, right? Some people have taken their interests and passions very seriously and I feel like its turned out pretty well for them. Of course, the first three people that came to my mind where eventually assassinated ... hmm ... so, seriousness not so good?

That is so me it is hysterically embarrassing; I guess there's a little bit of all of us in that box though. How so very easy it is to go from interested to analytical to critical to cynical. What makes us do it?

I'm not really sure, but I am sure that I don't laugh about it half as much as I could. I guess that's why witty, silly, sarcastic humor can be so perfectly hilarious sometimes: it so often takes the seriousness of life and reminds us how foolish it can be. Oscar Wilde comes to mind, as does Monty Python.

"Algernon: Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers. What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know."

"Customer: (deliberately) Have you in fact got any cheese here at all.
Owner: Yes, sir.
Customer: Really?
(pause)
Owner: No. Not really, sir.
Customer: You haven't.
Owner: No, sir. Not a scrap. I was deliberately wasting your time, sir.
Customer: Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you.
Owner: Right-Oh, sir.
(The customer takes out a gun and shoots the owner)
Customer: What a *senseless* waste of human life."

But I think seriousness can be good too; I mean, there are serious topics in life, serious situations, serious causes. Responsibility can be serious; suffering, injustices, tragedies. So, what's the difference between taking things seriously and taking yourself too seriously? A mirror, maybe?

You know, I think a lot of it has to do with how I look at other people. It's terribly comfortable to think that I have a very, very hefty say in what you think about me.

But it's easier to just laugh, isn't it?