Laughter and Longevity
Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five. ~ Benjamin Franklin
One of the comedy teams of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s was a team called Olsen and Johnson. They were in a very popular show of the time called “Hellzapoppin.” Olsen and Johnson ended each show with Ole Olsen saying, “May you live as long as you want.” And Chic Johnson would reply, “And may you laugh as long as you live.” I believe the way to live as long as you want is to live life to the fullest, enjoy life, and as Johnson said, “…laugh as long as you live.” The more we find the humor in our life the better the quality of our life. There are studies indicating that laughter may help us live longer. And as my mother Tulara Lee comedienne and motivational humorist says, “If you don’t laugh life will only seem longer!”
Even if laughter doesn’t help us live longer incorporating humor and laughter into our daily life will at the very least make life more enjoyable, rewarding and able to cope with the daily onslaught of life’s challenges. A little laughter therapy can go along way. Living longer is almost everyone’s goal but more importantly is the quality of our life that determines how long we want to live. I see people going through life’s motions and not really living to their potent ional. These people aren’t happy and don’t have an optimistic view of the world or themselves. It’s a shame that they let the world beat them down to the point where they never look for the joy in their being. They have lost the will to create a positive and happy existence. My mother is 83 years young. She has been making audiences laugh for more than 60 years. The last several years she has been speaking to organization with me about laugher and longevity. These audiences are surprised when I reveal at the end of her speech that mom is actually 83 years old. She is a very optimistic and humorous person onstage and off. Even though she has been diagnosed with cancer, she is optimist and humorous and jokes that she doesn’t have time for it, because she has too many things to do and too many things that she hasn’t done yet. Many people upon hearing that they have a serious illness tend to accept the fact that they are sick and give up. They lose their optimism; they lose their humor, and give into the disease. I believe this makes healing that much harder because they don’t have the will to fight it or live.
So as Olsen and Johnson said, “may you live as long as you want to. And may you laugh as long as you live!”