Always laugh when you can. It’s cheap medicine. George Gordon Byron

The writers quote Wednesday’s prompt for this week is laughter and I looked up that lovely quote above.

I love laughing. In my opinion, robust laughter is like a song to the ears that the soul dances to. I like being around people who have a good sense of humour and can make me laugh and who equally laugh at themselves. They don’t nitpick and take offence easily. Staying around grouches can be bone wearing and grey. At some point, we would all die, but while we are alive let’s live it with laughter on our lips.

Sometimes, especially during the weekends, I deliberately go on YouTube to look up comedians and enjoy a good half hour of silliness 🙂

When we moved here, I was initially taken aback by the number of serious, stoic faces that dotted the horizon. I even wrote a poem about it which languished in my draft. Some looked outrightly like people who had sucked on sour lemons as if it would hurt them to smile while some wore a grimace like they had a bad case of gas.

Over time, I started distinguishing them by their nationalities and realised that some of the tightness of the faces are due to upbringing and religion. Of robbing the minds of reasons to be joyful and to see a fellow human in suspicion or disdain.

Some reminded me of the staunch hard-nosed Church deaconesses whose lips are perpetually pursed in criticism. Some religious tenets sap some humans of the joy of living. Their belief that your hard faced stoic stance shows you as a serious Muslim or Christain or whatever, is so wrong. Laughter or smiling is beautiful.

No one expects anyone to go around looking like a clown, but life can be taken seriously without looking morbid about it.

Since we are all going to die anyway, I think I would look better with a smile on my face as I sign off on the last day in mirth.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha