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Humor is a must
By Leslie Andres
Published:
Monday, October 28, 2002
Leslie Andres -- Staff Column
A few days ago, I was watching Jay Leno on TV, as I am apt to do whenever I have the time and opportunity.
Seeing as how I find precious little time to watch much TV, I thought this was a treat indeed. I crack up whenever I watch Leno, although at times his jokes can be a little on the off-colored side. One of the segments on the show that day was the "92-year-old fruitcake lady." I had never seen her before, but apparently she has been on the show several times already, teaching various celebrities how to bake.
This time, however, she wasn't teaching anyone the ins and outs of preparing fruitcakes. Leno sent a camera crew down to her home in Florida to tape a segment. The Tonight Show crew had earlier recorded several people asking the "fruitcake lady" questions about anything you can think of. They then showed the video to her and recorded her answers.
Leno's reasoning for the segment was that the "fruitcake lady" � for some reason I can't remember her name, so in the extremely improbable chance that she is reading this, I sincerely apologize � was a straight-talking, in-your-face kind of person. I suppose that this, coupled with the fact that she is probably one of the more experienced people in the U.S., considering her age, made her the ideal choice for the segment.
Well, true to Leno's estimation, the "fruitcake lady" lived up to her reputation, handing out advice in a matter-of-fact kind of way. What really got me cracking up was her answer to a particular question from a woman who had just turned 18. The woman sought advice from the "fruitcake lady" regarding voting, as she would be casting her vote for the first time this year.
The "fruitcake lady" then said something which made me burst out laughing. She said something to the effect of, "What? You're asking someone from Florida how to vote?"
The point for my explanation of the segment on Leno's show is this: People need to have a sense of humor. Several issues ago, the University Chronicle ran a cartoon depicting Nixon saying, "I am not a crook," Saddam Hussein saying, "I have no weapons of mass destruction," and an older Florida woman saying, "I know how to vote." The cartoon was not meant to insult anyone, and was done in good humor. However, at least one person was offended by it. This person wrote to the paper saying that she knew of two older Florida people who knew how to vote.
But I have this to say. Nobody is saying that all the people in Florida don't know how to vote. Nor are we saying that older people (in Florida or anywhere else) do not possess the faculties to vote. Florida just became the butt of jokes just because of the controversy during the last election. Even the people in Florida joke about it. This is evident from the "fruitcake lady" segment and a video I saw at a conference recently, which was made by people from Florida.
What everybody needs in this life is a sense of humor. Really, you can't survive if you take life too seriously.
