Uncertain laughters

8th November 2007
Wednesday
Uncertain laughters

The blanket was a foot too short to cover from toe to chin. I decided to compensate by curling into a half foetal position with my body snuggly huddled under the blankets. Around me were my friends. The room was dark, and the sole television set was playing a movie that had been rented an hour ago. The silence was broken by another bout of laughter as I twisted the conversations in the movie into something else other than the intended meaning.

It felt good to have laughters around. Laughters eased tension and masked awkwardness with a light hearted feel. How friendships can be forged through jokes and ridicules baffle me. By building on an uncertainty with a fake composure, how can a firm relationship be established?

It is always easier to laugh it off than to face the truth. How will one react to a satire? Laugh it off and fail to read the underlying statement or take it as an insult? Laughing off things is a way to avoid responsibilities and appear to be treating a subject half as seriously as it should be properly treated.

Jokes are often one sided; the teller usually giving up his own ego to entertain and humour the audience. Much as we like to hear jokes, we dislike telling them. Joking has become an act frowned upon by many. Despite the demeaning glares cast by the people around the 'jokers', these 'jokers' still carry on having themself as a source of entertainment, or to some, a disturbance.

Even the term 'Joker' is now widely taken to mean someone who tries to be funny. What else should a person who cracks jokes be called? A joke-cracker? That sounds more like a type of cracker to me.