Does This Seem Funny to You?

That's me in the middle on chemo

I lost all my hair and puffed up

like a steamed raisin. I and my 

friends got hours of humor out of

that look. 

My dad was a part time clown. He and his buddies had an act that they would bring to hospitals, schools, parties, whoever would have them. Dad enjoyed doing that. Don't get me wrong, I loved my dad and thought it was kind of fun to have a clown for a dad, but I didn't find their act very funny. Probably because I wasn't a little kid when he started doing that. I thought the Three Stooges were funny. Sixty years later, I watch the Stooges and I don't see it anymore. I can't figure out what it was that I saw as funny back then. Again, Jerry Lewis movies, funny when I was a child. Not funny now.

My sense of humor is drawn more from satire and self deprecating jokes. I can take a joke about myself just as long as it isn't cruel. I don't consider jokes about my fat ass to be cruel, nor my flat feet. I can take a joke about being gay just as long as it isn't meant to degrade me or cast me as something less than human. I especially like situational humor. Mark could never understand why I liked to watch Seinfeld, but I found it funny. I love David Sedaris, we listened to his books on CD every time we drove up from Florida.

Now we have a real tragedy down in Florida. People left with nothing, looking for help. I don't find anything about those people and their situation funny. What I do find funny are those who rode out the storm on its periphery and are now whining about no electric and no place to go out drinking. They have a roof over their heads, but it is hot and humid. Having spent two weeks in that situation, I know it can be trying so I thought some humor would help. I made a few little comments on the Facebook that I thought were mildly humorous and they weren't appreciated. Sorry, it's how I handle adversity. When I had cancer and was going through twelve weeks of intense chemo, I made jokes. My friends made jokes. Anyway, I have taken my name off of the offended friends list who didn't like my jokes. They call it 'unfriending'. It doesn't mean I don't like them, or don't want to be their friend. But I certainly wouldn't want to offend them again, because I'm not going to stop making jokes.