Humor in the time of Corona

Have you ever taken one of those online personality quizzes? Where some inscrutable formula takes your answers to lame questions and then spits out your top leadership traits?

Recently, such a quiz popped up on social media.  Given these odd times, I gave it a try.

After a brief questionnaire, the results came in: my top-ranked trait?

Humor.

That in itself is funny.

But on reflection, humor has always been a part of my life – except when it wasn’t.

Ten years ago, when I first discovered my son was drinking and using drugs, I lost all humor.  When addiction moved into our home, laughter moved out.

Where was the levity when anxiety, isolation and fear engulfed my family?

It feels that way now.  Fear, anxiety and isolation have moved into our home again, and if I’m not careful, humor may pick up and move out again, too.

There is nothing funny about this virus.  There is nothing funny about addiction, or any other life-threatening disease that can destroy whole families.

But a popular phrase learned many years ago, when I first sought help from the effects of the disease of addiction, was “Easy does it.”  And if that means seeking humor – retelling a joke, or playing with a pun, or recounting a funny story – even during a worldwide tragedy, so be it.

Because if I can find even one brief moment that makes me laugh or smile, maybe I can lighten the day for someone else.

        “One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span,

         Because to laugh is proper to the man.”

                           Francois Rabelais –  from “Courage to Change”