Dark Afternoon’s Bright Laughter

One day it was one of those days that the clouds in the sky just wouldn’t let up and it was all dark and gloomy outside. Rain pinged off my classroom windows in a slow fashion, but oddly satisfying. The noise of it hitting the glass made it seem quieter and heavier almost like the whole day was in slow motion.

By my last class, nobody had any energy except for the slight excitement to finally goome after this long and gloomy day. Unfortunately, this is when I had U.S history.

My US History teacher had the reputation for the same attitude, same everything. They were the type of teacher to ask a question and take an hour-long pause just after asking, I can’t count the times I thought that maybe the quieteness was part of their whole point. Nobody really joked or even had a small glimpse of fun during this class due to the school environment and the worst class to get as the last class of the day.

During that day we were in the middle of some reading assignments that we all had to read out loud when our parts came up, our teacher standing upfront at the whiteboard, carefully writing down notes as we went.

The classroom was so quiet except for when we had our parts to read aloud you could just tell that nobody liked the assignment or the class. Everyone was so bored and tired of this day some slept while some looked up at the clock just waiting for the class to be dismissed so they can go home.

My friend was sitting next to me and sketching instead of doing the assignment. I looked over and noticed he was sketching the word bored over and over as this long and dreary day continued.

My teacher continued to write and write some more. Then my friend leaned towards me and said, “If this day continues on with this boring assignment we are all going to die of boredom”.

It was at this time a student out loud said, “Why shouldn’t you major in History? There’s no future in it!.’ After hearing that my teacher looked over their shoulder and started cracking down laughing and decided to give us a break in the assignment to allow a moment of relaxation.

As the class was told we could relax from the current assignment people were still laughing at the joke that was made and it was almost contagious, everyone started laughing and laughing some more.

Soon afterwords the classroom finally stopped laughing leaving a new vibe in the air consisting of relaxation and the first actual fun in the classroom all because of one smalll joke.

After that day I noticed that the classroom every day from then was full of energy and a sense of both relaxation but also fun.

All in all, laughter is a symbolic meaning and embodiment of fun and having fun is key. In some moments, it is going to seem like it isn’t appropriate or it just isn’t the place but you having fun is what makes situations like this and other daily situations worth the time of the day.

“Spring reloaded” by blavandmaster is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.