The international news gives us little to laugh about but it’s important to try to maintain a sense of humor even in the face of tragedy. We’re at the point where we can’t even look at the images of massive destruction in Ukraine, but try to hold onto images of those refugees who have been reunited with their families.
Because they realized the power of humor, autocrats and dictators historically punished people who took humorist shots at them. Sometimes sarcastic humor can be more deadly than even political opponents. That’s the secret of political cartoons. Putin, like Stalin before him, has no sense of humor.
The power of humor in Ukraine in “The Servant of the People” with then comedian and actor Zelensky cut into the heart of the political establishment. Jesus recognized the power of sarcastic humor and used it against the political and religious establishment of his day as well. Words can often be sharper than swords.
Prayer for the Day
Give us grace, we pray, to be able to laugh,
For laughter can help to heal even the deepest pain;
Give us imagination, we pray, to look beyond imposed limits
We often set for ourselves, thinking nothing can help.
Give us strength, we pray, to live each day with courage and hope,
Moving into your future with the promise of true life,
We ask this in the name of him who teaches us to laugh,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
It’s hard to prove that political humor accomplishes much of anything, but a world without any would surely be a worse place. It would be that bit harder to puncture (even if temporarily) a tyrant's self-mythologizing, and that bit lonelier to be one of their opponents.
- Ron Sears, British author, wrote Vladimir Putin: Life Coach
There was a kind of resistance in that [telling jokes in old USSR]. It was a step outside of the normative — a language two humans spoke to each other, a joke being the bit of free space, a gulp of air, a laugh.
- Ilya Kaminsky, Ukrainian poet, author of Deaf Republic
A cheerful heart is a good medicine but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.