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Laughter is the best medicineA few weeks ago, I was sitting at my local watering hole with a few mates who happen to enjoy drinking just as much as I do; and the conversation was typically filled with the kind of humour that would not be acceptable to most ordinary South Africans.
Our drinking group consists of: an Englishman who has lived in South Africa for over a decade, an Afrikaner turned English-speaking Saffa who moved to Johannesburg from Durban around four years ago, and an Afrikaans oke from Cape Town who also only moved to Johannesburg around four years ago.
Apart from our common passion for beer and whisky, we share a similar sense of humour, which got me thinking about our country and how sad it is that we are unable to laugh at ourselves and we often take ourselves
too seriously.
I remember watching Julius Malema and his ANC Youth League cohorts, welcoming back Caster Semenya at OR Tambo International Airport, with Juju bemoaning the fact that there were no white people among the crowd who welcomed her back.
The riposte from my one drinking buddy to this typical comment from Juju was, “Well, all the white people are at work contributing to the GDP of the country because they are employed, unlike all these black people who have time to go to the airport to welcome the likes of Caster Semenya back.”
(As a complete opposite to that, when the Springboks were recently welcomed back from their failed Rugby World Cup campaign by a large crowd, my English-drinking buddy said: “Well, someone should turn the whole Julius question around and ask, where are all the
black people?”)
Typically, among our drinking group these kinds of comments are thrown around and we all have a laugh while realising that most South Africans are so sensitive and politically correct that they would not appreciate this kind of humour.
What happened to our sense of humour as a country? Have we become so serious that we have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves, even over issues that are sensitive and serious for the nation as a whole? Surely, part of the process of nation-building and growing together as a nation involves developing the ability to see the funny side of every issue.
While discussing the issue of culture (with a particular emphasis on the practice of circumcision) and its relevance to a country that is trying to modernise rapidly, over a few beers the one time my drinking pal – who is originally from Durban – made the following joke: “Guys, what do you call a botched circumcision? A rip-off.”
Now, some may think this is a culturally insensitive joke and that it shows a lack of respect for those who are traditionalists; but in my view, it was simply funny and said nothing about my mate’s view on this particular issue. It was a light moment in a conversation that was quite serious and intense.
It made me realise that humour can lessen the tension when people are discoursing on issues that are quite serious.
Or more recently, while discussing religion and its effects on society – yet again over a few beers – I remember the one guy making the hilarious comment: “I don’t have much time for religion. In fact, the last time I opened a Bible or a religious book of any sort was because I had run out of rizzlers.”
Yet again, I am aware that this comment has the potential to cause serious offence and to be misinterpreted by those who are deeply religious, but we were able to laugh it off and to continue debating and discussing a very serious issue, without anyone necessarily getting too offended. This is something that we South Africans are not very good at as a nation.
Oftentimes, I think we take ourselves too seriously and cannot appreciate anything that is not “politically incorrect” for fear of offending someone.
I think it is time that we showed a bit more maturity as a nation and learnt to laugh about all our problems. We know that we have some serious issues, but life is not so bad on the southern tip of Africa that we cannot laugh about things, is it?
There is a funny side to every issue, and we simply need to learn to find it as a nation. Life is much better when you can laugh it off, anyway.
Or perhaps the solution is to spend more time drinking beer together, like my mates and I do?
Mugabe Ratshikuni
