One thing i learnt, after slightly more than a year in a public speaking club, is anyone can be humorous. If you see people labeled "serious" or "boring" crack out witty remarks and funny jokes often enough, you'll come to this same conclusion.
Opposite to what most believe, humor is not a character trait, it's not a skill, it's a state, when you're totally relaxed and comfortable and trusting the people around you. Traditionally, we are so busy categorizing people, and trying so hard to fit ourselves into those categories (It's fun sometimes i must admit, but be careful, such efforts shape our reality). We then try to live up to those category descriptions, and expect others to do so.
Homo sapiens use intelligence to create beautiful, coherent, closed intellectual structures then let them shut out real-life possibilities.
Time and again when we find an engineer or lab scientist interesting, we treat her as an exception. It happens so often, and we are amused so often, yet seldom do we question the presumption itself. Why are there so many 'exceptions'? Maybe those theories of categorization and stereotypes aren't right in the first place? Maybe the reason those theories seem right is simply because we choose to aligning our action to them?
Everything exists for a reason, but not necessarily a right one.
Humor is a state, the so-called 'boring' people may just have less chance to experience it. Or they may have been told all their lives it's not something that fits their identity, that they should even try to experience...
Like many other things in life, we should stop intellectually cornering the possibilities, and start exploring.
Sunday 1 November 2009
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