But, as my friends and family will attest, I can be just as sullen and depressing as the next person. I am a writer of humorous fiction for young adults and children. I work in humor because I believe that humorous books teach young people to use laughter against the storms of life. There's clinically proven power in humor to change our bodies and minds. Humor is a survival tool.
Medicine is weighty stuff.
To me, using humor in life illustrates that the person or character has moved from seeing life as a series of problems or things done to them, and has moved into greater clarity and control of a situation. Humor is one of life's mirrors. Young people need to look in those mirrors to distinguish between laughter that shames and ridicules and laughter that is good-hearted and brings redemption. Often a funny incident can illuminate a problem. I don't know my characters very well and can only take them so far.