{"id":10550,"date":"2012-04-13T07:13:20","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T11:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=10550"},"modified":"2012-04-13T07:13:20","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T11:13:20","slug":"laughing-refreshed-in-its-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/laughing-refreshed-in-its-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Laughing, Refreshed, in Its Face"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U_eZmEiyTo0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"600\" height=\"407\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: scene from <\/em>The Princess Bride<em>\u00a0&#8212;\u00a0the Man in Black faces off against his cleverest adversary, Vizzini the nearly-inconceivable Sicilian. You can find a transcript (among other Vizzini-isms) at <a title=\"IMDB: Vizzini quotations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/character\/ch0003791\/quotes\" target=\"_blank\">this IMDB page<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From <em><a title=\"whiskey river: Robert Fulghum, on the clear superiority of laughter in the face of trouble\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2012\/04\/to-get-through-this-life-and-see-it.html\" target=\"_blank\">whiskey river<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>To get through this life and see it realistically poses a problem. There is a dark, evil, hopeless side to life that includes suffering, death, and ultimate oblivion as our earth falls into a dying sun. Nothing really matters.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, the best side of our humanity finds us determined to make life as meaningful as possible NOW; to defy our fate. Everything matters. Everything.<\/p>\n<p>It is easy to become immobilized between these two points of view &#8212; to see them both so clearly that one cannot decide what to do or be.<\/p>\n<p>Laughter is what gives me forward motion at such intersections.<\/p>\n<p>We are the only creatures that both laugh and weep. I think it&#8217;s because we are the only creatures that see the difference between the way things are and the way they might be. Tears bring relief. Laughter brings release.<\/p>\n<p>Some years ago I came across a phrase in Greek &#8212; <em>asbestos gelos<\/em> &#8212; unquenchable laughter. I traced it to Homer&#8217;s <em>Iliad<\/em>, where it was used to describe the laughter of the gods. That&#8217;s my kind of laughter. And he who laughs, lasts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Robert Fulghum [<em><a title=\"Amazon.com: 'It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It,' by Robert Fulghum\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Was-Fire-When-Lay-Down\/dp\/0804105820\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: Mary Oliver, on not-thinking, not-remembering, not-wanting\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2012\/04\/i-lounge-on-grass-thats-all.html\" target=\"_blank\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I lounge on the grass, that&#8217;s all. So<br \/>\nsimple. Then I lie back until I am<br \/>\ninside the cloud that is just above me<br \/>\nbut very high, and shaped like a fish.<br \/>\nOr, perhaps not. Then I enter the place<br \/>\nof not-thinking, not-remembering, not-<br \/>\nwanting. When the blue jay cries out his<br \/>\nriddle, in his carping voice, I return.<br \/>\nBut I go back, the threshold is always<br \/>\nnear. Over and back, over and back. Then<br \/>\nI rise. Maybe I rub my face as though I<br \/>\nhave been asleep. But I have not been<br \/>\nasleep. I have been, as I say, inside<br \/>\nthe cloud, or, perhaps, the lily floating<br \/>\non the water. Then I go back to town,<br \/>\nto my own house, my own life, which has<br \/>\nnow become brighter and simpler, some-<br \/>\nwhere I have never been before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Mary Oliver [<em><a title=\"Google Books: 'Thirst: Poems,' by Mary Oliver\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=xUkAPHWJF68C&amp;pg=PT34&amp;lpg=PT34#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Not from <em>whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Rope<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The girl&#8217;s father laughs a little too hard<br \/>\nwhen I say: <em>She knows what\u2019s important in life<\/em><br \/>\nas his daughter whips the dime store jump rope<br \/>\nover her head for the twelve thousandth time&#8212;<br \/>\nlaughs as if I&#8217;m joking, when really, she has it down&#8212;<br \/>\nsparkly pink handles grimy with effort,<br \/>\nher face obscured by her hair, shins thin and bruised,<br \/>\nsocks down at the ankles. Abandoned<br \/>\nby the rest of the crowd, the concrete square<br \/>\nan archipelago, an alignment with rigor the others<br \/>\ncannot fathom, she moves with fierce persistence<br \/>\ninto afternoon, the heft of the handles, smack of the rope&#8212;<br \/>\nno Double Dutch, limbo, no communal game,<br \/>\nbut this resolute definition of rhythm,<br \/>\nslatted bench shadows lengthening into space,<br \/>\nthe other kids simply forgetting she\u2019s there,<br \/>\nher solitary corner of the playground darkening<br \/>\nas the dinner hour approaches, while pigeons pause<br \/>\non their branches, squirrels come down the trunk and stop,<br \/>\nwith rush hour beyond the fence, cars idling,<br \/>\nand the rope\u2019s metronome, forgotten as breath,<br \/>\nweaving all the disparate energies of girl&#8212;<br \/>\nelation, fury, eagerness, song&#8212;<br \/>\ninto one singular strand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Rynn Williams [<em><a title=\"Poetry Foundation: 'Rope,' by Rynn Williams\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poem\/238550\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and (the narrator is a woodworm who, with a half-dozen companions, has stowed away on Noah&#8217;s Ark):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Noah &#8212; or Noah&#8217;s God &#8212; had decreed that there were two classes of beast: the clean and the unclean. Clean animals got into the Ark by sevens; the unclean by twos.<\/p>\n[Being] &#8220;clean,&#8221; as they rapidly realized, was a mixed blessing. Being &#8220;clean&#8221; meant that they could be eaten. Seven animals were welcome on board, but five were destined for the galley. It was a curious form of honour that was being done them. But at least it meant they got the most comfortable quarters available until the day of their ritual slaughter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;among the species who took themselves seriously there arose all sorts of complicated jealousies. The pig did not mind, being of a socially unambitious nature; but some of the other animals regarded the notion of uncleanliness as a personal slight. And it must be said that the system &#8212; at least, the system as Noah understood it &#8212; made very little sense. What was so special about cloven-footed ruminants, one asked oneself? Why should the camel and the rabbit be given second-class status? Why should a division be introduced between fish that had scales and fish that did not? The swan, the pelican, the heron, the <a title=\"A colorful, feather-crested bird; link is to Wikipedia's info on its history with humans\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hoopoe#Relationship_with_humans\" target=\"_blank\">hoopoe<\/a>: are these not some of the finest species? Yet they were not awarded the badge of cleanness. Why round on the mouse and the lizard &#8212; which had enough problems already, you might think &#8212; and undermine their self-confidence further? If only we could have seen some glimpse of logic behind it all; if only Noah had explained it better. But all he did was blindly obey. Noah, as you will have been told many times, was a very God-fearing man; and given the nature of God, that was probably the safest line to take. Yet if you could have heard the weeping of the shellfish, the grave and puzzled complaint of the lobster, if you could have seen the mournful shame of the stork, you would have understood that things would never be the same amongst us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Julian Barnes\u00a0[<em><a title=\"Google Books: 'A History of the World in 10-1\/2 Chapters,' by Julian Barnes\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=FRoKuXZKEAUC&amp;pg=PT20&amp;lpg=PT20#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Between Neighbors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The complainant is a big man<br \/>\nin his own goddamn front yard<br \/>\nin a wheelchair, his voice as high<br \/>\nand highly offended (but only half<br \/>\nas loud) as the dogs barking<br \/>\non his porch. His goddamn neighbors<br \/>\n(a young male couple<br \/>\nstanding their own ground<br \/>\ndeadpanned, on the other side<br \/>\nof the chain-link fence) went and aimed<br \/>\ntheir hose at his expensive bird<br \/>\nand hosed it. It was innocently<br \/>\ncatching a little healthy goddamn sun<br \/>\nin its cage. The cop bends close<br \/>\nto listen. Then he walks off<br \/>\nto consult the complainees<br \/>\nwho say the barking, the barking goes<br \/>\non and on till they can&#8217;t, just can&#8217;t<br \/>\nstand it. If they pass on the sidewalk,<br \/>\nthe dogs bark. If they decide to swing<br \/>\non their porch swing, the dogs<br \/>\nbark, so, yes, they hosed his parrot<br \/>\nand would do it again. The big man says<br \/>\nbetween barks he needs, listen, he needs<br \/>\nthe dogs as a signal to tell him<br \/>\nstrangers are nearby. The cop explains<br \/>\nloudly the definition of <em>nuisance<\/em>,<br \/>\nissues a warning, turns his palms<br \/>\nlike a double stop sign up and against<br \/>\nthe opposing sides, then demonstrates<br \/>\nkeeping the peace by bending<br \/>\nforward and saying, \u201cPolly,<br \/>\nwant a cracker?\u201d and offering<br \/>\nthrough the cage bars, one healing finger,<br \/>\nand the wet-backed, green-backed,<br \/>\nred-white-and-blue para-<br \/>\nmilitary macaw gives a counterdemonstration<br \/>\nto all of them of what can happen<br \/>\nif you give somebody, anybody, a finger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(David Wagoner [<em><a title=\"Poetry Foundation: 'Between Neighbors,' by David Wagoner\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poem\/182966\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: scene from The Princess Bride\u00a0&#8212;\u00a0the Man in Black faces off against his cleverest adversary, Vizzini the nearly-inconceivable Sicilian. You can find a transcript (among other Vizzini-isms) at this IMDB page.] From whiskey river: To get through this life and see it realistically poses a problem. There is a dark, evil, hopeless side to life [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,53,251,713],"tags":[207,595,836,2166,2945,2946,2947],"class_list":{"0":"post-10550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-movies-media","9":"category-poetry-writing_cat","10":"category-humor-writing_cat","11":"tag-laughter","12":"tag-mary-oliver","13":"tag-julian-barnes","14":"tag-david-wagoner","15":"tag-the-princess-bride","16":"tag-robert-fulghum","17":"tag-rynn-williams","18":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-2Ka","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10550"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10569,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10550\/revisions\/10569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}