Humor

I was once told by an American history high school teacher, during class, that I had a "boisterous laugh." I quickly proceeded to look up the definition of "boisterous" in my pocket dictionary. Boisterous, according to the Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary, means "noisily turbulent." Simply put, I'm loud as fuck. I was clearly disrupting class with another student and that was my teacher's polite way of telling me to simmer down. Sometimes, when I laugh, my whole body shakes uncontrollably. I wish I could contain myself, but I can't. I have realized over the years that this is a blessing. When I hear something shockingly ignorant or something horribly outrageous, as happens often in "civilized" society, I most often laugh hysterically. Some people view this behavior as insane. I believe it is the opposite. Laughing out loud is the body's reaction to stress. Instead of internalizing anger or shock, when we laugh we express those emotions and release them from our bodies. Laughing allows us to get perspective from a situation and gives us the opportunity to not take things personally. "Hahahahaha!" prevents me from causing a scene somewhere when I hear men I know state proudly that they just "got it in" with another female the previous night while their wives were at home taking care of their kids. Infidelity is a very touchy subject. "Bahahaha! Did you see her smack her child! Scandalous!" prevents me from bashing people's teeth in for abusing children anywhere, let alone in broad daylight, in public. Child-rearing is a touchy subject. "Tee hee, we must look just like everyone else here so much that we blend right in and no one is able to notice us!" prevents me from yelling out obscenities when encountering racism in a restaurant, thus ruining what would otherwise have been considered a special occasion such as a family member's birthday. Sarcasm and laughter are my peaceful attempt at not going on killing sprees, V for Vendetta style, in outrage at all of the injustices present in the world. I'd rather laugh than cry.