silliness.

A teacher asked a class I was in how we would know when we were “adults.” The first thing that came to my mind was that adults laugh less than children do. When I expressed this, my teacher was shocked, even horrified, by my response and told me to never stop laughing…

It reminded me of another teacher who told me, when I left school due to a deep depression, to spend my time away being silly. I laughed when she said it and brushed it off, but two years later, looking back, silliness and laughter have brought me further than I had expected. What would the world look like if we were all a little bit sillier?

These memories bring me to these questions: What do we value in our society and why? Is humor, is joy, undervalued? Do they have value? What is that value? What have they done for you and how have they done it?

One of my favorite sounds in the world is the laughter of my younger sister. I’m not quite sure why, but when she watches South Park late at night when I am at home, I leave my door open, just a crack, so that I can hear her. Sometimes I watch certain movies with her just because I know how much they make her laugh (i.e. Christmas Vacation).

I suppose if adulthood really is the ceasing of laughter, I say, fuck it; let’s embrace childhood like nobody’s business. To be honest, maybe I will anyway… There is a wisdom in childhood that I’m not sure I’m ready to lose sight of.