No Sense of Humor

I've known some people with no sense of humor. They tend to not be very happy people, since they take things way too seriously....things that shouldn't be taken seriously at all. And, such people blame their problems on other people. Most seem to not have gotten what they thought they deserved, and can't handle much stress. They act as if they expect perfection.

A sense of humor helps you see things in perspective - what matters, and in what degree that it matters.

I never paid much attention to Michael J. Fox. I liked him in the "Back to the Future" movies, but beyond that, I never gave him a thought. It turns out he's a lot more thoughtful that I gave him credit for.

Here are some quotes from him.

"Family is not an important thing. It's everything."

"Acceptance doesn't mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it."

"My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations."

"There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums."

"The least amount of judging we can do, the better off we are."

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God's business."

"I think the scariest person in the world is the person with no sense of humor."

"One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered."

"The more I expect, the more unhappy I am going to be. The more I accept, the more serene I am."

"I like to encourage people to realize that any action is a good action if it's proactive and there is positive intent behind it."

"Discipline is just doing the same thing the right way whether anyone's watching or not."

"I don't have a set of tenets, but I live an ethical life. I practice a humility that presupposes there's a power greater than myself. And I always believe, don't inflict harm where it's not necessary."

"You've probably read in 'People' that I'm a nice guy - but when the doctor first told me I had Parkinson's, I wanted to kill him."

"In my 50s I'll be dancing at my children's weddings."

"I'm going to marry a Jewish woman because I like the idea of getting up Sunday morning and going to the deli."

"I see possibilities in everything. For everything that's taken away, something of greater value has been given."

"What other people think about me is not my business."

"The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say thank you, but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'."

"In fact, Parkinson's has made me a better person. A better husband, father and overall human being."

"But the key to our marriage is the capacity to give each other a break. And to realize that it's not how our similarities work together; it's how our differences work together."

"I can't always control my body the way I want to, and I can't control when I feel good or when I don't. I can control how clear my mind is. And I can control how willing I am to step up if somebody needs me."

"I can't be smug, because I know that you can lose anything at any point. And I can't be angry, because I haven't lost it."

"Pain is temporary, film is forever."

"Teenagers blithely skip off to uncertain futures, while their parents sit weeping curbside in the Volvo, because the adolescent brain isn't yet formed enough to recognize and evaluate risk."