My spring break was planned a long time in advance. Carefully thought out, anxiously anticipated. Unfortunately, it wasn't a glamorous trip to the beach or even a trip to grandma's. My fabulous spring break would consist of catching up on all my MCAT studying.
It wouldn't be so bad, I told myself. I'll get caught up on my work, and then I'll feel much less stressed! Being the type A that I am, I even came up with a study schedule for each day. Needless to say, people who have ambition to study over spring break hardly ever get everything done that they intend to. Thus, by the end of the week, I was overwhelmed, stressed, and giving up hope. So much for my carefully constructed study schedule.
I did have one fun activity planned, though. Two months prior, I had purchased my sister and myself tickets to see one of our favorite musicians, Andrew McMahon, in concert on the final Saturday of break. The event was highly anticipated by both of us, and Saturday seemed to come at a snail pace. When we finally arrived at the concert hall in Dallas, we were bursting with restless energy and excitement.
Often, when we build something up in our heads, we end up feeling disappointment. Our expectations are too high to reach, and we fall short of the happiness we deem appropriate. This concert, however, turned out to be everything I wanted and more. It was, in full honesty, the best music experience I have ever had. If I could choose five moments in which to live over and over for the rest of my life, this one would be in the rotation, hands down.
I chose this moment to share, because I feel that it exemplifies the presence of innocent laughter. In class, we have discussed both sides of the argument that laughter is menacing, that it is evil at its roots, that it leads to arrogance, that we laugh at the pain of others. To all those who say laughter is evil, I say this: go see your favorite artist perform live. It doesn't matter which form of art you prefer; when you see and feel the passion of these artists, you will smile and you will laugh and you will feel a happiness not connected with your own sense of worth. You are happy purely because you feel the passion and the joy the artist feels. You do not laugh to mock, and you do not laugh to feel superior. You laugh because you feel honestly and innocently happy. And you are humbled at the artist's abilities to make you feel this way.
The laughter that arises is not connected necessarily with humor, but it is laughter all the same, and it is innocent. That, in essence, is my argument to all who claim that there is ill feeling in laughter.
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