Laughter the best medicine...

The screenplay writers for The Proposal must have had the best time ever writing that screenplay. I can just see them brainstorming a list of funny scenarios and then weaving a story around it to keep the viewers laughing almost non-stop for 90 mins. What a fun job that must have been. For sure this has to be a successful film in terms of writers being able to communicate their thoughts in a very natural and lucid way and an audience being able to immerse into the flow of events as it transpired into moving pictures on the screen.

It's a bit like being a teacher; one feels as if they are on stage but of course one is not acting (unless they have had a sleepless night the night before and has had to wear a mask-the physical kind sunglasses and a hat to hide bags under the eyes not to mention the bad hair day and of the non-physcial kind: a mask to supress one's real feelings and elevate oneself to an energetic level) and the more natural we are ourselves, the more spontaneity and laughter flows. So a teacher doesn't always write their screenplay beforehand and more often than not the teacher with no masks is able to engage the minds of their charges and together everyone enjoys a memorable experience. One such episode occurred in a couple of classes last week when I introduced Public Information Systems as our next topic and teacher and students were in fits of laughter on saving different versions of their work as it progressed using the acronym that the tongue in cheek title gives. I am sure they will not forget this lesson!

Uncontollable waves of laughter has got to be the best medicine in teaching as well as in our lives, and the more spontaneous and unplanned the laughter the more joyful and memorable becomes the experience. I will not forget the 'patchouli' experience and the play on words with noone knowing what anyone was talking about and the uncontrollable laughter that resulted...

Going back to Sandra Bullock, my favourite part or should I say the most memorable part for me was the eagle, dog and phone scene. Bizarrre and surreal but oh so real!!! How many of us could relate to this incident...I certainly can...I knew which I would give to the bird! The dog or my phone!! I laughed uncontrollably...yes, I admit - I am one of those people 'married' not to my phone (as was suggested to me the other day), but to the people connected to my phone! But yes, I can laugh it off, knowing full well that on the surface it appears that technology runs my life but in all certainty it is only a tool - an extension of the pen and paper, an extension of the self that is always reachable connecting outwards as reciprocating loved ones share their thoughts and feelings inwards. Technology doesn't have to be dehumanising as symbolised by Sandra Bullock's power status character, if we use it to extend ourselves in a positive manner, if we use it sensitively given its potential to address a mass audience, and if we continue to be our integral selves.

May laughter always surround us...