Life-saving humor

"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." The DNA of Scaramouche, the protagonist of Sabatini’s novel has the dual stuff to keep a human being sane as he navigates his way through life. Capturing a moment of delight doesn’t hurt either. By a random turn of my head this morning, I was fortunate to witness a klatsch of 6 male and 9 female cardinals pecking at the bird seed on and around my stump. Humor and delight counterbalance the madness of humans as political animals.

2004 Nobel Peace laureate from Kenya, Ms. Maathai Wangari points out that political games of treachery and intrigue are common denominators in elections. "It is on the alter of this kind of cynicism that values like transparency, honesty and accountability are often sacrificed." If a person’s world view of political wisdom sees that in order to make an omelette, some eggs must be broken - trouble looms on the horizon.

Another dismal outlook applies to the philosophy espoused by The Underground Man written about by Dostoevsky. With consequences of tragic irony, Dostoevsky’s protagonist deliberately excludes himself from Paradise to prove that he is free. He exemplifies Everyman because all intelligent people fiercely resist control of their actions and desires. He knows that an understanding of true self interest requires that a person not hurt other people, nevertheless, he chooses to shoot himself in his foot. He consigns himself to Hell where love is impossible, even the love for himself which would have keep him sane.

When the world is mad, a frequent guffaw helps. Why can’t man, the political animal, choose sanity as a method of pursuing and achieving whatever happiness may be possible in life?