Humor

The Laughing Saint

Bernie pays a visit to Sal’s town

“Who is that guy?”

“No one knows his name. Most of the townspeople call him the Laughing Saint. Some people, of course, use more derogatory terminology.”

“Does he come around often?”

“He seems to show up somewhere around town at least once a day; usually when there are plenty of people gathered. His timing is often quite perfect. Whenever tension builds up between people he will show up and make everyone laugh thus easing the tension. Last week there were people protesting police brutality in front of the police station. They were yelling and cussing and waving signs. Then the Laughing Saint showed up and the next thing you know everyone is laughing their asses off and soon they were all dancing — and not just the protesters; the police, too.”

“Sal, you said in your email that your town is not typical and I’m starting to see that. I’m confused about his attire. He’s wearing a saffron Buddhist robe and pink tennis shoes — which seriously clashes — and he’s got a big red clown nose on his face and he’s wearing a purple cowboy hat with a ton of flowers on it.”

“Actually, his attire is always different — except for the Buddhist robe. He’s always wearing that. His hats and shoes and clown make-up are always different, though. At the protest last week he was wearing combat boots and a motorcycle helmet. But he’s always wearing that robe. I don’t get it. There are no Buddhist monasteries around here.”

“Maybe he wears that to deflect any potential violence against him. After all, who’s gonna beat up a monk, right?”

“That is an astute observation, Bernie. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“We can’t hear him from where we are standing but he sure looks animated. Does he tell jokes? Is he like a stand-up comedian or something? Or a clown?”

“Actually he doesn’t talk much. He just laughs. He’ll do a little hornpipe and flail his arms about but he doesn’t usually tell jokes. You know, like a pandemic laughter is very infectious. Just watching him and feeling his energy it’s hard not to laugh.”

“I’m on the verge of laughing right now. Sal, have you heard of the Indian Hugging Saint? I think her name is Amma. She just goes around hugging people. Instead of preaching she hugs and a lot of people are uplifted by that — although I’m not sure if she is still doing that what with the pandemic and all.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of her. Saw some documentary about her. I guess there are plenty of ways of uplifting people besides standing on a soapbox and preaching.”

“Sal, have you ever spoken with this Laughing Saint?”

“No, I never have. Why do you ask?”

“Because he’s walking directly towards us.”

When the Laughing Saint reached Sal and Bernie he pointed at Bernie and began laughing hysterically. The he turned and pointed at Sal and began laughing hysterically.

“Are you laughing at us?”

“Of course I’m laughing at you two. Why are you not laughing at me? Come on, I know you can do it. Don’t repress it. Don’t hold it in. Come on, let it out. Laugh with every muscle you’ve got.”

Soon Sal and Bernie were laughing. Bernie was even pointing at the Laughing Saint as he laughed.

The three of them laughed for a prolonged moment then as the giggling subsided the Laughing Saint took a bow.

Bernie then posed a question to the Laughing Saint, “Why do you laugh?”

The Laughing Saint became very still as he peered into Bernie’s eyes, “What is anger?”

“What is anger? Uh… well, it’s when you get really mad at something or someone and you…”

The Laughing Saint interrupted, “Anger is repressed creative energy. We are all blessed with a flow of creative energy. It starts down here and moves up the body to the heart and from there to the noggin and then outward into the world. But for countless silly reasons we repress that energy and we won’t let it flow up through us. So that creative energy festers and boils because we won’t let it flow. Pressure builds and builds until finally something triggers a mass release of that energy and it explodes forth as anger.”

“When that creative energy is not blocked and allowed to flow freely then it issues forth as creativity and love and an appreciation and longing for beauty. As it flows up through our body we enter a state of joy. And since the joy keeps flowing we release it all around us.”

“Laughter is the mechanism through which we maintain a steady flow of that creative energy. Laughter massages our solar plexus and our heart and also our spines, thus allowing free passage of that divine energy to keep flowing upward. That flowing energy also opens up our throats, turning on our expressiveness. And when it hits our noggin we start forgetting all those silly reasons why we were repressing the energy in the first place.”

A brief silence ensued.

The Laughing Saint then cupped his ear with the palm of his hand, “Oh yippee! I hear children!”

Sal and Bernie looked down the street and sure enough there were a few dozen small children running as fast as they could toward the Laughing Saint. The Laughing Saint then jumped up and down clapping his hands. He then went into the street and began skipping like a girl away from the children.

The children quickly caught up with him and seeing him skipping they all switched from running to skipping. The Laughing Saint skipped merrily down the street followed by a few dozen skipping children. They skipped and skipped until they were finally out of sight.

Bernie took off his glasses to wipe his eyes. He was laughing so hard that his eyes began secreting liquid, “Sal, I’ve gotta tell you that this is one of the strangest towns I’ve ever come across.”

Sal snorted, “Just wait ’til you meet the dancing wheelchair guy.”

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a piece of fiction.

Speaking of village weirdos…