July 29, 2003
Sense of humor
Early medics thought that what they called “the humors” pretty well summed life up. We have four, they postulated. Too much or too little of one throws us out of balance, and we get sick. They considered health and a good sense of humor one and the same.
It was a good idea then, and it still is now.
For one thing, humus (don’t forget old Adam) and human, humility and humor have always had the same DNA. Instead of the smothering and ponderous sobriety so characteristic of our goings on, we churchers might well remember that we, together with God, are in the human-making business, and that that’s what humility and spirituality are all about.
Bob Hope had it right. His family, gathered around his death bed and giving him one more of the audiences he so dearly loved, asked where he might wish to be buried. “Surprise me,” he said.