The book “Laugh and Live” was written by Douglas Fairbanks, an American actor, director, and screenwriter. In the book, while describing happiness, he says that there is nothing good and positive in this world but happiness is sure for all those who try to live happily and those who laugh are happy. Happiness isn’t for special people. Everyone is eligible: you-me-the other fellows. Furthermore, he says that happiness is a state of mind, not a state of body and mind control. He explains the significance of laughter by saying these lines: “I like to laugh. It is a tonic.it braces me up, makes me feel better, and keeps me in good mental condition.”
There are many benefits of laughter. First of all, it’s a psychological activity; when we laugh our cheeks start to blush, we feel refreshment, the process of inhaling and exhaling air is performed in a good manner, our blood starts to circulate in our body. I’ve question: “Do you ever laugh?” Do you think that it keeps our blood red? Sure, it does all these functions in a good manner and besides, it relieves all the tensions from our brain.
Laughter is, more or less, a habit. We can see it in our daily lives, for example, there are so many people who spend their whole time laughing, actually, it’s their habit while there are some people who don’t want to laugh, they want to be serious. So, this is just because of their habit. Now we can learn from it that the habit of laughter isn’t the same for all people. It varies according to our personality.
However, he says that experience is the real teacher. I think that it’s strange for us as to how experience can be the real teacher. The answer is that it’s a bitter truth because if we’ve not experienced then how can we learn. We’re waiting for things to happen, though our first duty is to prepare ourselves against untoward experiences and it’s the best way to take stock of our mental and physical activities.
He also explains that life is also one of the great experiences and those who fail to win, if the sound of body, can safely lay the blame on their lack of mental equipment. We may rise from our failure and win back our losses if we are only shrewd enough to realize that good health, sound mind, and cheerful spirits are necessary adjuncts. As Tennyson says: “I held it truth, with him who sings too one clear harp in diverse tones, that man may rise on stepping stones to their dead selves to higher things”.
The most important thing which he emphasizes is health. He says that nothing is possible without health because we know that a sound body has a sound mind. So, we can understand the importance of health. The question arises as to how we can live a happy life. We can live a healthy life by the activity of the mind that is laughter because if we do laugh, all our worries will disappear. By reading this book I’ve learned that we should understand the importance of laughter and try to perform those activities on which the writer has thrown light.
