Tuesday, July 22, 2014

In Defense of Funny Animal Photos

Warning: Extremely Serious Post Ahead

For the last several months, as the world becomes crazier and crazier, I've been wondering if people come to read Funny Friday Photos and think I'm vapid and inane, and don't have a clue about what is going on around me. The truth is, I do. I am very aware of the horror in the world right now.

I know that children are starving and dying, while their mothers watch helplessly. I watch the news and am horrified at the increasing violence around the world, with the innocent paying for the political agendas of others with their lives. I know people the world over are dying for their beliefs. I know that humans are committing horrible atrocities against each other. That abuses of power and corruption seem to be everywhere. That ordinary people continue to take advantage of each other in the worst ways, and that the distribution of pain and suffering is woefully unbalanced.

Here I sit, in my comfortable house, with electricity and food at my fingertips, and I feel embarrassed. I know how fortunate I am, but that's not enough. I try to do what I can to make a difference in the world, but that's not enough either. I wish I had an answer to what to do to fix it all, but of course, I don't. And I don't have the power, either.

But I don't want anyone to mistake my regular funny photos or continual upbeat messages as being ignorant of the state of the world around me or trying to avoid thinking about it.

The thing is, I don't want to add to anyone's load of crap by bringing the dark side of the world to this blog. And if, by putting together a humorous post weekly, I can lighten that load a little bit, then I'm all for it. We never know, any one of us, what someone is going through. They can appear to be absolutely fine, while inside there is a mess of emotion and heartache. Some people need to escape, and if I can provide that by sharing my optimism and sense of humor (and keeping out the dark and sad thoughts and observations I have)...Well, I'm happy to do so.

Here's what I know. Human beings are amazingly resilient and capable of great things. As long as we have hope that the bad stuff will end, as long as we have even just one friend, we can endure horrible, awful things. Anne Frank says it best. I saw this quote on twitter, and fell in love with it. She said:
I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that remains.

I'm just trying to remind the people who come here of the beauty that remains. And there is beauty in laughter.




10 comments:

  1. The bad things will never end. It's great to have places to escape to, ones reminding us of the more pleasant aspects of living in this world. It's not insensitive at all to share parts of you and what you enjoy. I, for one, do not visit blogs first thing in the morning to be reminded of all the horrors going on out there in the world. When I get off work to relax, it's plastered all over the news. When I go to the local pub to have a beer with Tim and to relax, it's a debate somewhere close by AND on the news.

    The only time I get to relax and enjoy the blogosphere is with my morning coffee just before work! So thank you! And to whomever made you feel in such a mood that you felt the need to explain your fun posts, shameful! :)

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    1. You're so sweet, Diane. I don't know if it was any one person or situation that created the need to post, but more a general feeling I've been getting. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but now it's out there and I can let it go. That's how I roll. If I say it, I can forget about it. :)

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  2. If it weren't for humor and beauty, we'd all go mad. Keep it up with the Friday funnies!

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    1. Thank you, L.G. That's how I feel, too! We have to have something fun, something beautiful, to hold on sometimes. And people with whom to share it with. :)

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  3. I hope this wasn't brought on by a rude comment. I can't imagine anyone mistaking a sense of humor for vapidness. (Perhaps they have no sense of humor.) Real life is stressful and can be depressing. When I get really unhappy, I go to FB. Not for people's drama, political opinions, personal rants, or ruminations on the meaning of life -- I go to laugh at the funny pictures. I NEED that laughter, especially when I'm hanging on by a thread. I post funny pics on FB and my blog posts are short and humorous. I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things, but people don't need to hear them. We write to entertain, to let people dream and escape, whether its novels or blog posts. My "job" is to entertain people. Don't apologize, Lara.

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    1. Thank you, Lexa. :) I need funny, too - and I hope that I share that with others. I agree with you that people don't need to hear my opinions, either. At least, that's the way I feel. Not that they aren't important, but in the grand scheme of things, they aren't going to put food on people's tables, or end suffering. But maybe laughing at funny animals or losing themselves in a post will ease some of the stress - no matter where they are.

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  4. I hope someone didn't make a comment to you about this either because that'd be so ridiculous. As long as you love what you're doing, you keep doing it and there'll be people who keep reading. Even if they don't always comment, they're there.

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    1. The latest wasn't a comment specific to me, but it still got me thinking about how people view optimists or just... I don't know. How they view people who share feel good messages on twitter and facebook, or look at cat pictures and videos on Youtube - that kind of thing. Because I don't ever feel qualified to speak for the general public, and because I did take them (there have been several over the last couple months) a little personally, I wrote it from my perspective, what I've been thinking, and in defense of optimists and people who try to dwell on the lighter side of life, I guess.

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  5. Glad you shared your feelings, Lara. Thanks for creating and sharing your fun blog posts with us, because it isn't healthy to be serious all the time.

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    1. Thank you, Sabra, and thanks for stopping by! I hope all has been going well for you. :)

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