Our friend Art didn’t know I was discouraged when he told us about a gardening adventure.
Preparing for next year’s planting, Art pushed a wheelbarrow full of fresh-from-the-farm manure. He needed to push the load around their house, across the backyard grass still wet from rain, and up a steep, bare, six-foot hill. Art tightened his grip on the handles to steady the balance. He sped up as he crossed the lawn, hoping the momentum would help carry the load over the crest of the hill onto the garden plot without spilling any of its ooey, gooey, stinky load on the way.
Up the hill went the wheelbarrow. It slowed. Art gripped harder and pushed harder. Up went the wheelbarrow. Then Art’s feet slipped on the muddy hillside. He fell straight backwards. He didn’t let go . . . until it was too late. The wheelbarrow also tipped over backwards, slopping it contents all over Art. There he lay—poop in his eyes, poop in his nose, poop in his ears, poop all through his hair, poop covering his clothes head to toe and soaking through.
Anger flared. If he hadn’t been spitting poop out of his mouth, he might have said bad words. In the midst of his spluttering, suddenly Art thought about America’s Funniest Home Videos—people actually won money for sending funny home videos to be aired on television. Too bad this wasn’t on video, he thought. It would have been a winner! Thinking from the audience viewpoint, Art started laughing.
“Don’t be serious all the time,” Art concluded his story. “Look for the funny in life.”
We all laughed. Suddenly, I thought about my ooey, gooey, stinky attitudes. It stopped me short. In the next few days, however, I discovered that, with an attitude adjustment, some of the irritations did have a funny side. Sure enough, life smells better—and feels better—with a little laughter.
Question:
In what unfunny event can you find a bit of humor?
