A friend posted this little ditty on Facebook after Oscar Pistorius was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend. I have to admit, it made me laugh though I felt a little guilty. The death of Reeva Steenkamp is hardly a laughing matter. She was a beautiful young woman who didn't even get a chance to see the prime of her life. So why did that poem tickle me and who thought to write it in the first place?
Do you remember when Leon Klinghoffer was killed in 1985? The wheelchair bound man was shot twice and thrown overboard by Palestinian terrorists when they hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro. It was a horrifying act that shocked the world. What I remember though, was by the next day, there were a whole lot of Leon Klinghoffer jokes going around. The one that sticks in my mind is "What do you get when you go into a bar and order a Leon Klinghoffer? Two shots and a splash."
I remember how hard I laughed when I heard that joke. My reaction still makes me feel ashamed.
Likewise, we all heard the ghoulish jokes that followed The Challenger explosion, some of them so dark I can't even repeat them. One of the milder ones was "Did you know that NASA has a new space drink? Ocean Spray - it was their second choice because they couldn't get 7-UP." I didn't laugh at this particular set of jokes because somehow they didn't hit my funny bone but I don't blame those who did.
I almost get the jokes about the misfortunes of others that are self-earned. I didn't feel badly for Tiger Woods when he was the butt of every comedian's jokes after his philandering became public. Even then, there came I time when I thought the jokes needed to stop. He had fallen hard off his pedestal but there was no need to continue kicking him while he lay at the bottom.
Laughing at tragedies seems odd though as we continue to do it, it must be a very human act. Maybe, in the face of horror, it makes things tenable for a moment or two. Too bad, the respite doesn't last.
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