The true sense of humour
To the reserved and sensitive temperament, the cultivation of a sense of humour is not advisable but a most necessary means of self-preservation. By humour is not meant the turning of every circumstance into a joke, however serious its import, or the habit of making fun of others in order to emphasise our own cleverness, this is simply a cheap form of wit, often cruel in the extreme, and seldom indulged in by broad-minded folk of real mental endowments. Genial humour is rather the ability to see the funny side of the darts and slings of outrageous fortune’ whenever they react on ourselves, and to try to be the first to laugh at one’s own blunders and idiosyncrasies generally. We are bound to encounter undeserved ridicule from time to time, and to laugh first is to take all sting from the circumstance in question and to complete our ridiculer. We have all of us suffered at some time or the other from the mistaken efforts of the so-called ‘sunny man’ of our acquaintance. One whose sense of values will not let him see where to stop and when to be serious. This, needless to say, bears no resemblance to true humour as the sense of the ridiculous is always directed to the misfortunes or limitations of others and never to his own. To have on the whole the same sense of humour or to be amused at the same kind of jokes, is perhaps the strongest tie that can exist between two friends, whether they are of the same sex or opposite—and other things being equal, it can prove one of the best foundations for the building of a happy and companionable married life.
