On Laughter

"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."
~Mark Twain

I'm pretty sure the only book I've ever read cover-to-cover by Mark Twain was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I really liked it. I think I may even have read it twice. A few years ago I picked up a book of Twain quotes because it was only a dollar and short quotes suit my attention span far better than novels. Flipping through that book, I realized just how great Twain's humor was. His observations of life are startlingly accurate and summed up succinctly with a brilliant wit. This is, I think, the same combination that leads me, on rare occasion, to take a liking to a stand-up comic.

Last night, I decided to put on a Ken Burn's PBS documentary about Mark Twain to listen to while I was doing the dishes. I didn't expect to finish it, but 3 1/2 hours later, with sleepy eyes, I found myself sitting on my couch in the glow of sunrise thinking, "Hmm, what an interesting life he led." Samuel Clemens (pen name Mark Twain) suffered a great deal of loss in his life, including his brother, several of his children, and the love of his life. In such dark hours, Clemens/Twain relied on humor to get by. He viewed it as a necessity exclusive to mortals and believed that there was no laughter in heaven.

I find this is a novel and very interesting idea.