In all this laughter, we learned humility. My dad led by example as he always laughed the loudest when the joke was on him. But whenever we did something silly (or can I say stupid?) he taught us to laugh rather than withdraw in pride. While it took the sons-in-law some time to adjust to our family culture, they now lead the way in pursuing humility through laughter.
Monday, July 14, 2008
a family that laughs
I learned this lesson when I was at university. I want very much to create a culture of laughter in my family, much like the Mahaney's.
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6 comments:
almost every conflict we have in our family ends in laughter. (eventually) it's one of my favorite parts of life.
I decided immediately after a particularly embarassing fall in front of a handful of my guy friends when I was at University that I had two options: 1) I could run away and hide (and laugh about it weeks later) OR 2) I could pick myself up laughing already. The first didn't appeal to me at all. Why laugh later?!! I want to laugh NOW ... IN THE MOMENT! Poor fellas didn't know what to do when I stood up holding my sides with laughter. Maybe they thought I'd hit my head, as well. But that's actually the birth of my blog title. It became my slogan of sorts. "I'd rather laugh than cry."
Good insight Christine. My parents were too old fashioned to know this. Instead we were told not to laugh at the unfortunate (those that wore glasses or had freckles) as they would later commit suicide.
i've always liked your title. good to know the history!
I was interested when I read this on Girltalk, and I could see their point . . . but I think it would have to be done rightly. I'd need to see it to know whether or not I thought it was a good idea! It technically is, but what would it look like? So often laughter is just plain mean (e.g. toward people with glasses or freckles). If we're laughing because we're sinners too, and we'd do the same stupid thing, that is good. It is often not an "I'm with you" laugh though, in difficult situations.
Having seen CJ speak on this before (and from personal experience), the person laughing is laughing at themselves ... not at another's expense. That's where the humility comes in. When embarassing circumstances arise, it is so easy to hide away in pride rather than to embrace your own imperfections and laugh at your own folly. That individual's laughter is then an invitation for others to join in the merriment or remember their own humorous follies. It's helpful to see parents model this to their children.
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