Is it just me, or does it seem like many people don’t laugh enough anymore? Especially at themselves. We all know it’s not polite to laugh at others (unless they slip and fall on the ice- I’m sorry but seeing that is usually pretty funny stuff as long as the only thing seriously injured is the person’s ego).

According to Psychology Today, the average 4-year-old laughs 300 times a day while the average 40-year-old laughs a measly 4 times per day. Four. Think about it.

When did everyone become so serious?

When I was younger, when someone said they were offended by something, it was usually time to stop, take notice and think about the offensive action, term or circumstance.

Nowadays? It seems like it is easier to ask what isn’t considered offensive?

In my opinion, the problem with people being offended all the time is that we all do things that can be considered offensive. For me, it’s a problem with ill-timed and sometimes inappropriate laughter. Put me in a really stressful situation and there’s a good chance I will get the giggles. Simply put, I deal with stress by laughing or trying to make others laugh.

Hypothetical (or not) scenario: four buddies go on a four-wheeler trip and you crash your four-wheeler right in front of me in a severe accident when a bird hits you in the head while you are driving down the trail. You spend months in a back brace, but eventually recover. Funny? Of course not. My response to the tragedy? I’m going to save the coat the paramedics cut off your body and along with a turkey decoy taped to my head, this will become my next Halloween costume. Not because I think what happened to you is funny, but because laughter is good medicine.

Is my costume offensive? Funny? Can it be one and not the other?

Hypothetical (or not) scenario #2: I take a pink flamingo and attach a placard to it announcing that a different buddy has been named Freedom Days “Neighbor of the Month” for his endless efforts at manicuring his lawn. I stake this plastic monument in his yard with directions to display it proudly before passing it along to another deserving citizen (victim) the next month. This buddy perhaps brags about the honor for the next month and informs pretty much everyone he knows of his great honor. I then get a phone call late one evening from said buddy informing me to “watch my back” because the gig is up! Funny prank? Offensive?

If that scenario were to happen, I bet we could laugh at it years later and talk about all the people who commented on his “pink prize”.

I realize that different people have different senses of humor, and not everyone shares my affinity for laughter and practical jokes. But I do think the world would be a whole lot better if we laughed at ourselves more often and saved the outrage and being offended for the times where it really matters.

One of the issues that currently affects my laughter frequency is the dearth of funny people and television programs in our contemporary world. Where are the modern Chris Farley’s? There was a time when seemingly everyone knew “Matt Foley” and the fact that he lived in a van down by the river. Again, maybe his comedy wasn’t for everyone, but it did produce laughs and often imitated phrases, dances and skits. Today’s SNL just isn’t funny in my opinion. It’s missing the comedic genius of Eddie Murphy or even the truly great impressions by Dana Carvey (people will remember that George HW Bush had a great friendship with Carvey despite his less than flattering impersonations. They laughed about it together).

I’m sure it’s a bridge too far to expect that our society could agree upon the definition of what is funny, but I think many of us could agree that laughing more would be a good thing.

So, here’s my challenge to each of you: let’s work together to “up the average” when it comes to the number of times, we laugh on a given day. Do you part. Laugh at yourself. Make people laugh. Tell more lame “dad” jokes! Pull the occasional practical joke. Search the internet for “Chris Farley” dance skits. Call a friend and reminisce about something funny that happened years ago.

In other words, we all need to start acting more like four-year old’s when it comes to laughter!