As I bite into my semi-cold pepperoni pizza and nibble on my chocolate chip cookie during lunch (by far the best lunch I've had here), I glance up to see one of twelve Inupiat value posters that are scattered all over the school. This one has a picture of a native man on a stage making funny faces and gestures out to the audience. I can just visualize him telling a story that has the audience in cahoots.
Everyone tries to be funny at some point. I would wager that in almost every conversation I've had, someone cracked a joke or pun while talking (some without realizing it).
As Mel Brooks said, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open manhole cover and die.” It is very difficult to think something is funny when all you feel is the pain. The pain of expecting something, but it doesn't fall through, or maybe you completely biff it on the stairs and now you have giant bruise somewhere on your leg, OR if you are someone that I know...you try to hop in a van only to have the weight of your backpack pull you back out. In any case, we somehow find a way to spin our mishaps and fortunes into humor and comedy, especially in Barrow.
One aspect of humor, things that make us laugh, is the stuff in our lives that makes us feel awkward, uncomfortable, or even disturbed. I know I've mention that my students know more than me about chemistry that they could be teaching me OR have ridiculed the way things have been going in my chemistry classes to others OR sharing our "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Days"...it's funny, but yet embarrassing and painful.
I know I've had my share of pains here in Barrow, and I'm sure the others have as well. If there's one thing that I've learned quite a bit about while being in Barrow, it's my share of pains that turns into laughter. I don't think I have ever laughed so much in such a short amount of time in my life. Here is a snippet of some laughs: "The Sass", the greatest stretch in the world, the HI-LARious faces that some people make (I could burn someone right here, but I won't), members of the school board before the meeting started, the stories and cultures that have been shared and exchanged between two worlds, Joe's Museum, my attempt to teach chemistry, and my CT's sayings, one of which is "Well, knock me over with a feather."
People here make other people laugh all the time, even if it is making fun of themselves. Every one just has this feeling of "Life is precious to waste" or they don't feel the pain or embarrassment. How do they reach that state? They simply live in the present...sometimes too much if you ask me. You never get a sense of the future here. The only future thought I can think of is "Is it Friday yet?"
Laughter is what connects people. Walls get broken down and friendships form, hopefully forever. Not only that, it can make you more productive as one tries to think of ways to make learning fun.
Laughter reduces pain, increases job performance, connects people emotionally, and improves the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain. True scientific fact.
The Inupiat people have it right for their values: Laughter is indeed the best medicine.
Live long and prosper,
Brit
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