Worm Humor

I have noticed that everyday humor for those who claim to be working for peace and justice has diminished.

The recent raid of the FBI on peace and justice activists and all the fuss and discussion it is causing made me think back to the sixties when we were followed and our phone calls were tapped. We used to make light of it. One time when police were following us we drove to a department store downtown, all except the driver got out, and scattered throughout the store. Another time we made a ‘wanted poster’ of the head of the tactical squad, Frank Miller, and posted in at our bookstore, Rhubarb, which another Frank Miller and I had started. We thought it was funny but I guess he did not and had me arrested for no good reason. We knew our phone at Casa Maria, the Catholic Worker house of hospitality was tapped and often we talked to the FBI directly by picking up the phone and talking. I can go on with stories but maybe you get my point. We had fun with those ‘watching us’ but it did not distract us from the real issues and we did not react to it. Nowadays, even humorous remarks are taken seriously and everyone seems so angry. There is not much humor left in the movement. We need to go to TV shows like on the Comedy Channel or cartoons like SpongeBob to get our dose of humor.

It is okay to be angry; many of you know that I am often angry. However, the original tea party was a symbolic act taken by persons with a sense of humor. The British then, or the modern day Tea Party might not think so.

I used to have three or four person regularly send me email jokes as part of their ministry. Now, through death or being too busy, I get only a few jokes. Email, words frozen in writing, seems to be so serious.

Where has all the humor gone?

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)