The Optimistic Skeptic

I feel like an integral part of the writing experience is writing something prompted by a fortune cookie, so I would be remiss to neglect doing that in my minimal time remaining as a columnist. Although I always intend to save my fortunes, like every character in film and television ever, they're small and I'm a hoarder so they tend to get lost in the shuffle. However, recently I've noticed that one fortune in particular has stuck around, so I feel like I should find some profound meaning in it before it inevitably vanishes into the abyss.

I don't typically read into things like fortune cookies, but I have to say that the ones I tend to get often stick in my mind. One memorable example was when I was in high school, and a member of my English class brought in fortune cookies for everyone. We all laughed and read our fortunes out loud, until we got to mine. I opened it and read: "You are having a good day now, but wait until you get home." Ominous, no? Clearly I'm not going to forget that one anytime soon.

My most recent fortune, obtained during the snow storm, states: "Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they find laughable." Already it won points because it doesn't allude to something menacing waiting for me at home, not to mention the fact that I love to laugh. I will be the first to admit that I am not always funny, and more often than I'd like, my jokes don't land. But the feeling of making someone laugh, or laughing with him or her is something for which I haven't found a comparable experience. Maybe playfully squooshing (I know, not a real word) the face of a puppy, but that would be it. It's addictive.

But, like with everything, there are limits. If I'm with someone and they're laughing, I can't just mindlessly laugh along, I need to make sure the actual cause of the laughter is funny. In some cases, laughter can cause more of a rift than a bond, based on what different people find funny. Say, for instance, someone is tilting his chair back in class and falls over. That is funny, and if we laugh about it together, we have just shared a great moment.

Other moments aren't as funny. When I was living in New York for a semester, there was a definite homeless problem. I was there for four months from January to April, during some of the coldest weather of the year and would see some of the same people in the subway stations, freezing, sleeping or asking for help. It was something I had to see every day, but never stopped being difficult and heartbreaking to be around.

So let's say you're on a date with someone who you think is a pretty nice person, and you're having a good time. Then on the subway ride, a homeless man enters and announces that he is starving, has nowhere to go and is selling candy bars, and if you buy one from him he'd really appreciate it. Your friend mutters, none-too-quietly with a chuckle, "Maybe instead of buying the candy bars he should have bought actual food." 

Ick, you think, but just tell him to be quiet and roll your eyes. You continue your night. Later when you leave a bar, there are a number of homeless people asking for food or change. 

Your friend, again being a stellar example of humanity, directs one homeless person to ask "that guy over there" for change, because he has a ton of it he's giving out. "That guy" is the no-nonsense bouncer at the bar you just left, and would probably not deal well with being approached for change. At this moment you decide this person is an absolute waste of space and spend the rest of your time in the area passive-aggressively ignoring him and claiming that you're busy every weekend. No one would blame you. 

This completely fabricated story is one example of what someone finds laughable being a sign of his character. Anger and annoyance are also somewhat clear indications of character, but those are also things you can't always control. Laughter has a degree of control to it. Consider how you act when watching a funny movie by yourself versus with a group of friends. Usually, you will laugh much harder with your friends than by yourself, because you're outwardly showing that you think something is hilarious. Laughter is something we do for other people as much as ourselves, and although there are some cases where you literally cannot stifle your laughter, for the most part it is something done consciously, with an intended result.