Laughter in Bottles

I wish you could contain the laughter of every person you met in a bottle. Laughter needs to be listened to, revisited, and remembered often. Whenever a dark day decided to drop by, you could pull out that bottle and unleash the sound that, sometimes, has greater power than many songs and speeches. Say laughter didn’t exist. What if when you went on Netflix to browse for a movie and there was only a selection of drama or horror genres! While you may have weeks full of intense deep novels or movies that produce much philosophical thinking, you should also have weeks of reading lighthearted stories—in other words, add a little of Dr. Seuss to your Fyodor Dostoyevsky reading schedule. Why? Laughter is valuable. If Mark Twain said, “The human race has one really effective tool, and that is laughter,” then we should take ear to the heaviness of this light commodity. 

           I believe that laughter is one of the reasons that America has won so many wars; they've remembered the power behind laughter and joy. Laughter isn't just a natural silly sound. It represents so much more. Behind a single laugh is joy; a flicker of light in a storm, a sparkle of a star on a black night. It was during the depression, the wars, and poverty, that great countries were reminded of how much they needed that joy. This is why J.R.R Tolkien spent so much time describing the Shire and the laughter of the hobbits; this is why Charlie Chaplin was so famous during the Great Depression; and, this is why God mentions joy in His word over 200 times. Writers didn’t create worlds of hobbits, fawns, and fairies just so they could waste time; laughter is as just as important in stories. 

Soak in laughter, but really...bathe in the sweet expression of joy. Cloak yourself with the laughter of your friends and family, and maybe one day we will be able to contain it into a bottle to share with all.