A Mysterious Gift

I had a very enjoyable evening tonight, grinning and laughing at various jokes and humourous anecdotes that were flying about the room. There's few things better for light relief than good wholesome banter between friends. What most of us never stop to think (and just as well) is why this or that comment is funny or not. Before you all worry about me let me say that I don't either. I just ponder these things later. Almost all the things we laugh at seem to be strange to one degree or another - but some strange things are far from laughable. And we can hear the same joke many times (if it's that sort) and still find it humourous even though we know what's coming. We often laugh at painful things, once the pain has passed; hardly ever do we find good times funny. And perhaps the question that puzzles me most is: what on earth is it for? It lightens our hearts, sure, but lots of other things can do that. It certainly doesn't serve any practical purpose. You'd think that we wouldn't mind losing such a "useless" thing - but having the ability to perceive and understand humour taken away would be a dreadful prospect for almost anyone. All gifts are given for a purpose, and we miss any that are removed or broken, but sometimes it's completely beyond us to say why they were given. Humour is one of those mysterious gifts which even the philosophers seem to have taken for granted. Maybe I'm taking all this way too far, perhaps there is an easy answer and I'm just missing it. But somehow I think not. Isn't it good though, that you don't have to understand a thing to enjoy it.