An Easter Wish: More Laughs

During these past few weeks in America, there has been a contentious debate about immigration, that’s gotten quite ugly at times. I actually heard a right-wing radio DJ say that we should install bug zappers on the border that can zap any illegal immigrants trying to cross. That kind of harshness is going to doom us all as a species. Recently, I was also deeply troubled that people would die protesting a cartoon – because they felt it insulted their religious beliefs. It gave a false picture of what I know to be true. I grew up in the Middle East, and I can assure you the sense of humor in that region is every bit as rich as anywhere else on the planet, if not more so. So what can we do? I don’t know what it is about this Easter, but I just want to scream, “Lighten up, everyone!” Humans have a tremendous capacity to enjoy a laugh. Here’s wishing that we follow that path in the months ahead rather than anger and hatred.
I had a joke this past Thursday on the Tonight Show: The immigration crisis has been solved. Angelina Jolie has agreed to adopt all 12 million illegal aliens.
The crowd responded well because they were ready to laugh about all this. I’m sure if you look close enough there are ways to be offended by that joke, but the important thing is, it was a joke.
If we don’t relax more, and start having more laughs, we’re going to be in big trouble. I mean here in the city of Portland, on the blogs, across the country, and around the world: Lighten up, everybody. We’re only going to be here a little while and at the end of your life you’re not going to say, “Gosh, I wish I had spent more time being pissed off.”