The Mastery of Tragedy

 Did you ever notice how, when you're feeling stressed or confronted by trying conditions, you're often really receptive to humor or fits of laughter? As the groundbreaking film director and comedic genius, Charlie Chaplin observed, "A paradoxical thing is that in making comedy the tragic is what precisely arouses the funny...we have to laugh due to our helplessness in the face of natural forces and (in order) not to go crazy." (Or, at least, not too crazy...author's preference.)

 I can relate. In the summer of 1988, a tumor was discovered on one lobe of my thyroid. I put off having surgery for six weeks as I was teaching graduate school. Needless to say, this was "the summer of (my) discontent." There was only one way to determine if the tumor was benign or malignant...The old practice of cutthroat medicine. One activity that helped me prepare emotionally for the surgery and its aftermath was developing a humor seminar with a friend. We would introduce the world to..."tumor humor." And with the successful removal of a benign nodule, along with my right lobe, I could light-heartedly improvise upon and whole-heartedly agree with the old proverb: "Half a lobe is better than none."

 As a psychiatrist, whose name escapes me, noted: "What was once feared and is now mastered is laughed at." And, as I inverted: "What was once feared and is laughed at is no longer a master!"

 Just remember...Practice Safe Stress!