My favorite coronavirus humor: Finding ‘signals of transcendence’ in a pandemic
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2020
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
President Trump announced yesterday the White House’s three-phase plan for easing social distancing measures, a subject I intend to discuss in this afternoon’s Special Edition. For this morning, however, let’s shift from news about the coronavirus pandemic to focus on a surprising way to respond to news about the pandemic.
I’m reading Edward Achorn’s Every Drop of Blood, which masterfully sets Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address in its historical context. I have long been a student of Civil War history, but I did not realize the depth of personal rejection and suffering our sixteenth president endured as he tried to lead the nation through her most perilous days.
And yet, Lincoln was famous during the war for his quips and down-home humor. He would often respond to criticism and anger with a story that changed the entire tone of the moment. He once explained his strategy: “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”
The act of increasing and then decreasing our heart rate through laughter is calming and tension-relieving. Laughing can even release stress- and illness-reducing neuropeptides, boosting our immune system.
So, it would seem that finding ways to laugh during a crisis like the Civil War or the coronavirus pandemic is good for us socially and medically.
My point is not that we should always respond to crisis by finding something humorous in it.
My point is that we should respond to crisis by looking for something transcendent in it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Daily Article podcast, published by the Denison Forum for Culture-changing Christians. |
| 0:07.8 | To receive the Daily article directly to your email inbox each weekday morning, visit thedailyarticle.com. |
| 0:14.7 | Now here's today's news, discerned differently. |
| 0:19.5 | President Trump announced yesterday the White House's three-phase plan for easing social distancing |
| 0:25.3 | measures, a subject I intend to discuss in this afternoon's special edition. |
| 0:30.2 | For this morning, however, let's shift from news about the coronavirus pandemic to focus on a |
| 0:35.6 | surprising way to respond to news about the pandemic. I'm reading |
| 0:39.4 | Edward Ackern's every drop of blood, which masterfully sets Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address |
| 0:45.6 | in its historical context. I have long been a student of Civil War history, but I did not realize |
| 0:51.9 | the depth of personal rejection and suffering, our 16th president |
| 0:56.1 | endured as he tried to lead the nation through her most perilous days. And yet, Lincoln was |
| 1:01.9 | famous during the war for his quips and down-home humor. He would often respond to criticism and |
| 1:07.6 | anger with a story that changed the entire tone of the moment. |
| 1:11.7 | He once explained his strategy, with the fearful strain that is on me night and day, |
| 1:16.9 | If I did not laugh, I should die. |
| 1:19.6 | On another occasion, Lincoln said he felt like the boy that stumped his toe. |
| 1:24.7 | It hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too big to cry. He summarized his spirit in crisis this way. |
| 1:31.3 | I laugh because I must not cry. |
| 1:36.3 | Now let's try an experiment. |
| 1:38.3 | A dear friend sent me some humor while in quarantine yesterday. |
| 1:42.3 | Quarantine has turned us into dogs. We roam the house all day |
| 1:46.1 | looking for food. We are told no if we get too close to strangers, and we get really excited about |
... |
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