A Sense of Humor is Especially Important During Difficult Times

Abstract

Artist-critic Clive James said: “Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. Those who lack humor are without judgment and should be trusted with nothing.”

Artist-critic Clive James said: “Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. Those who lack humor are without judgment and should be trusted with nothing.”

Joshua Yaffa, in an article in the New Yorker (“House Of Shadows: Living with the ghosts of history”; October 16, 2017) told the story of Yuri Trifonov, a novelist, whose father had a high-ranking job at the Council of People’s Commissars and mother was an economist at the Commissariat of Agriculture. Trifonov’s father was arrested as an enemy of the people in June, 1937, when Trifonov was eleven. The next April N.K.V.D. agents came to imprison his mother in a Gulag camp in the frozen steppes of Kazakhstan. As she was being taken she turned to her children and offered a piece of advice, which Trifonov remembered for the rest of his life: “Children, no matter what happens, don’t ever lose your sense of humor.”

A review article: “Effectiveness of hospital clowns for symptom management in paediatrics: systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials (BMJ 2020; 371: m4290 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4290) concluded that “hospital clowns might contribute to improved psychological wellbeing and emotional responses in children and adolescents in hospital with acute or chronic conditions.”

The most valuable lesson children teach us is their ability to live in the moment. An ill, hospitalized child, in real distress, laughing at and enjoying a clown, epitomizes that ability.

While attending an AAN meeting some years ago, I was looking at the posters and saw one entitled: “Improving Compliance at a Memory Disorders Center.” I laughed, immediately envisioning this cartoon. Finding humor, even in difficult situations, enhances our ability to relate to one another. Child neurologists well know that efficacy and fun are not in conflict, rather they are quite complementary.