One man had just bought a new bicycle. His teenage son was so excited he immediately took the new bicycle out for a spin. The bicycle's frames were still covered with paper and plastics. When we saw this boy riding the bicycle still "wrapped" in papers, we laughed because it looked funny. We called the young man and told him that those wrappings were supposed to be removed before riding the bicycle, the same way we remove wrapping paper from other utensils before we use them.
The young man removed all the papers and plastics from the frames but little did we know that we had put the young man in serious trouble. When he went back to his father's house, the old man saw what the son had done and he was pissed. He whipped the poor boy with a stick. When we heard what happened, we were very sad.
I tried to think about why the man could be so annoyed over such a small and reasonable action which the boy did. It was so obvious the man was angry because he did not want to remove the wrappings from the frames. He wanted the bicycle to remain wrapped maybe to let people know he was riding a new bicycle whenever he went out with it.
The whole episode made me realise how sometimes what we think is funny may not be funny at all.
This brings me to a very common but distressing trend in men's fashion. I am sure you have noticed men wearing their jackets with the designer's label still attached on the sleeve. I was told many years ago that the label was supposed to be removed immediately you purchase the jacket. The reason it is put there is for the purpose of making it easier for the buyer to identity the designer.
When you are browsing for a suit, you will find that they are hang in an ascending order. It is not easy to quickly determine the colour and size, but it is quicker to identify the manufacturer without reaching into the jacket and looking inside for the label. Having a small fabric label held with only two stitches on the visible sleeve will allow you to easily browse without disrupting the display.
It is very common to see many distinguished people at social gatherings shamelessly wearing their jackets with the sleeve label still attached. Because many labels are made of fabric, some people are under the impression that they are part of the suit. Sometimes when I see someone wearing a jacket with the label still attached, I feel the urge to tell them that they are supposed to remove it but the thought of the young man and the bicycle always comes to my mind.
At my parents house, we usually sat together as a family to watch TV after supper. One day, my sister came to visit with her young son. He was about 4 years old but very talkative. On this particular evening, we were watching one of the most popular soaps when there was a commercial break and the advert that came on was for condoms. There was a vigorous campaign going on for condoms during that time because of the rising cases of HIV/AIDS. You can hardly go anywhere without seeing an advert for condoms.
So when this condom advert came on the screen, the whole room became quite. As you know, it is considered taboo by many African families to openly discuss sexual matters. There was my father, my mother, my two sisters, three brothers including myself. As the commercial went on about how safe condoms were and how we must not forget to use them each time we had sex, my little nephew just blurted out, "Who are they showing condoms? Who hasn't seen a condom before?"
No one said anything. We all sat there pretending as we did not hear a thing. It was a classic comedy moment where you expect to hear lots of laughter and applause but none of that happened. One question lingered in my mind, how did this boy know about condoms? Does he just know them because they have been over advertised? I knew that despite his comical comment, the boy knew absolutely nothing about what a condom's actual purpose was and how it was used.
I also remember another incident. This happened at the market place. I was in the company of an older friend and we went to see a certain man at his shop. We found him sitting outside the shop with two other friends. They had some Shake Shake beer which they were drinking from the packets. The owner of the shop was sitting on a chair while his two friends sat on a long rickety bench with tilted legs.
One of the men who was sitting on the bench stood up and gave room for us to sit. I sat at the end of the bench while my partner sat in the middle and the man who was drinking beer sat at the other end. We stayed for a few minutes and even got involved in the hot topic which was being discussed. The man drinking beer on the bench seemed to be the "know-it-all" type and he was the loudest, probably due to the effects of the drink.
When it was time to leave, my partner was the first one to stand up, leaving me and the other man still sitting on the bench. The other man had just put his packet of Shake Shake to his mouth when I decided to stand up from the bench. As soon as I did this, the bench flipped like a see-saw sending the man to the ground with the packet of beer still to his mouth. The contents of the packet splashed the front of his shirt as he comically bounced on the ground. Shake Shake is a messy brew and his shirt was messed up.
The man sat very far at the edge that when I stood up, his weight was too much for the bench. If this was on YouTube, it would attract a considerable number of views because it was funny. It was better than most pranks that I have seen but when it happened, no one laughed. The man was so furious but there was nothing he could do because this was a "certified accident". We only managed to laugh after leaving the place.
Funny moments will always trigger laughter but sometimes the brain warns us not to laugh. No matter how funny something is when the brain tips you not to laugh, just stay quite because you may get hurt. Many people have been beaten up for laughing at what they thought was funny.
One reveller beat up a party-goer after a laugh sparked violence at a club. Shaun Fairweather was beaten after chuckling to himself when Paul Maddison slipped on some stairs as he left a party.
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard of how two women were beaten for laughing at bees. Agness Sekoacha and Maria Kgobjoane were walking home when they saw a swarm of bees sitting on the statue of Paul Kruger and started laughing. White men came and asked them what they were laughing at. When Maria told the men that they were laughing at the bees, the men started beating them, tearing their clothes and even arrested them.
Some researchers believe that laughter is the best medicine. But like any other medicine, before you start laughing always remember that some medicines have side effects.
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