I live very near to one of our city parks. The peals of laughter coming from the children on the playground on a summer afternoon are the happiest sound on God’s green Earth.

You can look into the eyes of an infant, make a silly face or peak-a-boo noise, and that baby will burst into fits of giggles that will warm the soul of any parent, grandparent or visiting neighbor.

Children laugh and smile because they have no reason not to. Laughter and play are innate and first nature to a child.

You can tell a youngster to not smile or laugh and a grin the size of all of tomorrow’s promises will slide across their face, regardless of how hard they try to stifle it.

The harder they try, the bigger the smile and the louder the laugh. It isn’t an act of defiance; it is an act of uncontrolled happiness (which is the way all happiness should be).

It isn’t until maturity and responsibility creep into our lives that faces find a reason to not spontaneously break into smiles and laughter chooses to not escape our mouths. Growing up takes all the fun out of growing older.

Someone much smarter than me once said that, “Laughter is the best medicine.” The Mayo Clinic reports that laughter helps to reduce stress, improve you immune system and might even make me better looking (the last one is still up for debate — and may not be part of the Mayo report).

Somewhere along the line, someone has been put in charge of making up national holidays. We have “Festival of Sleep Day” (Jan. 3), “Backward Day” (Jan. 31), and one of my favorites “Sneak Some Zucchini Onto You Neighbor’s Porch Day” (Aug. 8).

These are all good and well-intended days of celebration, but I would like to propose an even better and well-meaning holiday: Tell a Stupid Joke Day. It will be celebrated today, whenever “today” happens to be, whenever you want it to be.

Go into work, sit through a boring staff meeting and finish out the meeting by telling a stupid joke; something like “A grasshopper hops into a bar. The bartender says ‘Hey, I make a drink named after you.’ The grasshopper says, ‘Really? You make a drink called ‘Bob’?”

Probably everyone will groan. But, watch closely. The corner of someone’s mouth will start to curl up in a well-stifled smirk.

Tell the joke, later on in the day, and someone else’s mouth will try to fight off a similar smile. By the end of the day, all you will have to say is, “You make a drink named ‘Bob’?” and someone will be smiling — perhaps just faintly, but it will be a smile.

You might even hear a faint snort of laughter that slipped out in a moment of weakness.

Go ahead and laugh, today. Laugh like you have no reason not to.

 

Larry Wilson is a mostly lifelong resident of Niles. His optimistic “glass full to overflowing” view of life shapes his writing. His essays stem from experiences, compilations and recollections from friends and family. Wilson touts himself as “a dubiously licensed teller of tall tales, sworn to uphold the precept of ‘It’s my story; that’s the way I’m telling it.’” He can be reached at wflw@hotmail.com.