Come Smile with Me

My qualifications to write a book on humor start at age eighteen when I started serving my electrical apprenticeship under several Irish electricians on the railroad. How's that for a good start! I have always injected humor into my teaching over the years. I have fun in my work. People listen better when they are smiling rather than frowning. Plus once you get people laughing you can tell them almost anything. Humor is the great equalizer. When you make someone laugh, you make them feel good. When they feel good around you, they tend to feel good about you. When they feel good about you, they want to do business with you. A good sense of humor is essential to deal with the world's reality. I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. In this book I cover everything from age, death, government, religion, sports, etc. This book was not written to single out anyone, in the "one-liners" you can substitute "Democrat" in place of Republican, "boss" in place of worker, "lawyer" in place of client, or Ohio in place of Kentucky, etc. I was always told that, a person that can't take a joke is most likely one. Always remember this, you don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing. I love to read books, I have always imagined that Paradise will be kind of a library. Any man that can surround himself with books will have at least one place in the world in which it will be possible to be happy. In writing this book I tried to make the stories short and sweet. I have used not only "one-liners" but quotes from famous people, interesting questions, heavy thoughts to make you think, shocking facts, bumper stickers, all which can be used on your sign. We have a signboard in front of our office that has the quips we post each week. Quips which have poked fun at practically everyone and everything. Popular topics such as taxes, lawyers, marriage, and kids have dominated our signboard over the years. As the neighbors walk or drive by our office on their way to the post office next door they always pause to read our signboard which brings a smile. We feel that we have contributed a small but important element in helping them cope with the frantic pace at which things move today. Humor is a valuable commodity in today's everchanging world. As Winston Churchill said, it is good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. One section of the book is on motivation, and I have always thought of myself as being highly motivated. I never had the ambition to be something. I had the ambition to do something. I think I did pretty well writing electrical books, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper. Jokes are no laughing matter to the brain. They are a type of release valve that enables us to think the unthinkable, accept the unacceptable, discover new relationships, adjust better, and maintain our mental health. They are also funny. Without them we probably would be a dull, dim-witted society, trapped in a harsh world too serious to bear. People say, "One day we'll look back on this and laugh." I say, "Why wait?" I have a sense of humor and a sense for humor. I like joy; I want to be joyous, I want people to smile, and I want to make people laugh, that's what I want. Tom Henry