Last night I met a funny man. He laughed a lot. He had an amazing sense of how to make a cross-cultural joke. He knew that people are just people, despite the differences that can often arise due to their schooling in diverse cultures. His laugh seemed to welcome you right into the joke along with him. His joy was contagious.
Here is the full story. He was a native elder and I met him in the sweat lodge ceremony. We were about half way through the ceremony and a little talk amongst the dozen or so of us in the lodge developed. He was sitting near the doorway, and as the lodge cooled because the door was open this elder who sat upon the earth in the middle of an ancient ceremony, said in a very matter of fact voice, “I think we might need some venetian blinds in here or something, to be able to let this heat in and out of the doorway.” Venetian blinds in a sweat lodge? Yes, that was a very, very funny image.
And that is how it feels when you hear someone laugh who is genuinely laughing a deep, belly laugh. It’s almost shocking to hear the depth of delight coming from someone who laughs so loudly and so well. It makes you stand up and take notice. But it also does allow you to laugh that way too. It gives you approval and opens the door to your own laughter. My advice, hang out with people who know how to laugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment