Hunting Laughter

Hunting Laughter

Last Saturday, I attended a Christmas party at a TCU faculty’s house, along with the presence of around 30 other people. The people at the party came from different countries and of different generations. There were a couple of seniors in their sixties, a lot of young adult, and two little boys of age four and three.

 During the party, laughter occurred almost every minute. The general environment at the party was a great catalyst for tons of laughter to occur, because all of the people there were pleasantly friendly. I saw people laughing from ear to ear as they were having casual conversations about a variety of topics, from Christmas break plans to TCU’s football this year. Nevertheless, people busted out into uncontrollable laughter the most when they played a game called “Stupid Ninja.” This game required everyone to use body gestures to act along with directions. As human are capable of coming up with the silliest and funniest ideas, this game was a blast! Everyone assimilated each other’s action in a purposefully clumsy and silly way. This game is an example of slapstick comedy and self-deprecating theory. In order to join the chain of laughter in this game, people must learn to put their guards down and be not afraid to act silly in front of others. 

 In the party, the four-year-old and three-year-old boys did not laugh as much as the adults. But they laughed easily at merely anything. They laughed at the shiny ornaments on the Christmas tree and at the sounds of the guitar when Dann started to play a song. The objects and events that the kids laughed at did not embody the humorous factor within themselves, yet the kids managed to find them funny through their lenses of seeing life. Their innocent and care-free laughter proves that laughter does not need a reason. Small, simple events and objects can easily cause laughter.

Also, these children’s laugh was not caused from a nearby adults. I have seen kids laughing along with adults even though they did not fully understand what was going on. However, at this party, it was actually the other way round. These two kids only laughed when they genuinely saw things they found funny; and when the adults saw those two boys burst into laughter, they laughed pleasantly along with the boys as a way to show their approval and care. 

          The event was a light-hearted environment where the laughter was very contagious. One person started laughing, and shortly afterwards, another person laughed along until everyone in the room joined in the chain of laughter. This chain of happiness spread so fast that it almost seemed like they joined the laughter altogether. Laughter is powerful; it connects people in the strongest and fastest way.