H is for Hawks and Humor

Hawk

hawk,

soaring

beyond Earth

tethers, thermals

start sky bound ascents,

you drift without concerns,

confident, keen-eyed hunter

locating prey from high above,

aerobatics, one swift dive, dinner

snared, savored, nature’s life cycle renewed.

A blog post ought to be of some use to a reader and yet I’m torn when I reach the letter H.  Back when I wrote about April Fool’s Day, I ended with a reference to “humor” and how that would make a good topic for today.

I also wanted to write about hawks because I harbor an affinity for hawks, have chosen “hawkseye” as my online pen-name and accept that hawk and I share a spiritual link. However, writing of the hawk is more for me than others, so let’s take a tour of humor instead.

Do you know what makes you laugh and why you find some experiences humorous? I challenge you to attempt a concise definition of humor that could apply to wide range of people. Personally, I think it would prove difficult. What you find rip-roaring hilarious might cause me to merely roll my eyes or leave shaking my head. What’s humorous to one culture might provoke shock or disgust in another.

Even a search around the Internet led to nothing concrete. I think it fair to say, however, that what most people consider humorous today, while different in context, holds threads of similarity to what made people laugh in decades far into the past. Whether written, expressed verbally by a comedian, found in song, theater or just in conversation, humor and its triggered outcome – laughter – is good medicine for the soul.