Laughter can get us through anything

Funny. At nearly every turn last week, I discovered another Naperville connection to Africa.

Waubonsie Valley High School and Cape Town, South Africa; Rotary Sunrise and Tikondane, Zambia; and Grace United Methodist Church and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In need of a refresher geography lesson, I opened our "Illustrated Great World Atlas" and studied the world's second-largest continent, where the overwhelming majority of African nations did not even exist when I was in school.

Saturday afternoon, just back from attending North Central College homecoming festivities that included an inspiring dedication of the Meiley-Swallow in the old Grace Evangelical Church at the corner of Ellsworth and Van Buren, I was hoping to begin putting together my thoughts about several amazing cultural exchanges with Africa in the works.

Instead, I was distracted by a TV program titled "Inside the Actor's Studio" hosted by James Lipton. Saturday's interviews featured several comedians, including improvisational actor Robin Williams. I welcomed the laughs.

Remembering that ancient Egypt civilization was known for its satire, I made another African connection as the calm, studied Lipton fired 10 questions at his celebrity guests.

"What's your favorite sound?"

After making a whoopee cushion noise and adding his wacky perspective, Williams said his wife's laugh was really his favorite sound.

Not surprisingly, the other comedians answered "laughter" as well.

Though some readers may think my serious tangents are laughable, the roar of the crowd is not usually my intent. But I've got to admit, laughter is my favorite sound, too.

Children giggling. Chuckles and chortles. A hearty guffaw. Laughter is like music. It's contagious and uplifting.

And like a smile, laughter knows no language.

What's more, when someone catches my unexpected wit and punctuates it with a laugh (or returns an e-mail with LOL), I'm on a natural high.

It's tough to write funny.

Pay attention

Though the information is sketchy, online I discovered references to political cartoons dating back to ancient Egypt (5,000 years ago!) when commoners made fun of their leaders.

Some things never change. Laughter filled city council chambers a number of times last Tuesday. Though I'm not sure everybody was making fun of our leaders, I do know that city council meetings are touted as the best local entertainment on the first and third Tuesdays. Watch and learn.

With so many challenges on the table at every level of public discussion -- downtown Naperville development, funding for parking, Martin Mitchell Property redevelopment, new high schools in both school districts, cuts in Pace bus service, theater districts, rising cereal prices, gratitude for public service, raises for elected officials, water supply needed to grow corn for ethanol, security, climate changes, elections, world peace -- there's still time to pay attention.

And rather than criticize, perhaps more of us common people will participate to seek solutions in the public process.

But as Will Rogers once said, "Nobody wants to be called common people, especially common people."

I don't mind.

I recall in high school when I understood my science teacher to say we only used a small portion of our brains, leading me to think we had a mass of unused brain. Years passed before I unlearned that notion; we use different parts of our brain for different things and never all at once.

In a week chock-full of new experiences -- such as taking a sample of my DNA from the inside of my cheek last Tuesday in a Waubonsie Valley High School science lab -- I was reminded to remember we humans have an unlimited capacity to learn.

Even when humans compare themselves to the quick recall of computers, I've yet to hear any person say, "Your memory is dangerously full."