I’m a master in the art of dad jokes. The more it makes you groan and roll your eyes, the better. The other day, while my brother-in-law was working on a patio we hired him to install, I was full of them:
As he was using a leveling tool to make sure the dirt he poured was even: “So I see you leveled with that dirt.”
As he was cutting away some roots: “Glad to see you getting to the root of the problem.”
With all the difficult things society must grapple with these days (a pandemic and racially charged civil unrest to name two of the biggest), a little dad humor is something we all need. You simply may not realize it yet.
And so, I give you some recent favorites. Groan, shake your head and be free of your worries, if only for a few seconds.
“Humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life.”
Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson
Several lifetimes ago, I was a newspaper reporter and editor. I saw a lot of tragedy and depravity in that line of work: fatal car wrecks, families burned out of homes, murder and, yes, health crises.
Mood Music:
https://youtu.be/QPNqojbyIDk
I used to walk over homeless people sleeping in the Lynn Police Department entrance, the place wreaking of piss. I’d sit in courthouses to report on arraignments, watching some of the unluckiest, choice-challenged people I’d ever seen in my life.
Along the way, my sense of humor took a dark turn.
I’d joke to other court reporters about whether someone standing in front of the judge was guilty of whatever they were charged with (“Of course they are!”). When listening to police-scanner chatter about fire trucks being sent to a triple-decker fire in Lawrence, some of us would place bets on how quickly they’d put out the flames. Lawrence burned so often that the firefighters learned to do their jobs with ninja-like precision.
My colleagues and I felt a lot of sadness and heartache along the way. Our hatred of human suffering was always just below the surface. But joking about some of it is how we survived.
This gallows humor is something a lot of police officers, medical professionals, security practitioners and military veterans have shared with me over the years based on their own experiences, most of them a lot more harrowing than anything I’ve experienced.
No matter how dangerous and tragic something is, sometimes laughter is the only armor you have.
I mention this because there’s been some backlash over memes and commentary making light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Some say it’s cruel to laugh about such a grave threat, that we have to take it seriously. Some who joke about it are called dismissive.
And some of those people are dismissive. I shake my head more over people who seriously downplay what’s happening, writing it off as a media conspiracy to undermine Trump.
But those memes joking about toilet-paper hoarding? That Onion article about wearing two face masks (one on the back of the head in case Coronavirus attacks from behind)? Those are keeping me sane.
If the humor bothers you, I’m sorry. I certainly don’t want to see you hurting.
But don’t expect everyone to walk around their quarantine holes with a dour stare 24 hours a day.
To the jokesters: Keep it coming. You’re helping me through this, and I appreciate you.
The Dorm Stormer website has a photo spread of about 25 things it claims will piss off friends with OCD.
As someone who does have OCD, let me offer my two cents.
Mood music:
Straightaway, the photo spread strikes me as dumb: I don’t feel irritated or insulted. It lacks cleverness and real humor.
OCD humor done well is something I enjoy. If you can make me laugh about the condition I live with every day, then I salute you. But you have to do it well, and this article doesn’t. It falls back on the oldest clich&eactue;s in the book.
The misspelled words on the parking lot pavement? If I saw it in front of me I’d have a good laugh, take a picture and put it on Twitter and Facebook. But the sight of it would not yank my triggers.
Same goes for the orange juice in the grocery section marked “eggs.”
The mismatched soda bottles and crooked pictures? That shit got old a long time ago.
The examples used barely scratch the surface of what true OCD suffering is about — the constant worry and paranoia, the sleepless nights, the stress-induced amplification of addictive behavior, the fear of leaving one’s house and having to talk to other people.
My friend, if you found imagery to lampoon that stuff, I’d me lapping it up.
The image below is a brilliant exercise in humor, an important coping tool for getting through all life’s difficulties. I’ve always believed the folks behind Sesame Street should be doing more to educate children on mental health, starting with some hard but necessary lessons in disorder. I share this meme for their benefit. Class is in session.
