Basically a melancholy man, he was not humor's slave, and could therefore bend it to his own uses and make it a vehicle for thought rather than mere clownishness. This was misunderstood at the time, and once in the dark days of the war, when Lincoln was reprimanded for his unseemly levity, he turned his gaunt face and tragic eyes toward his critic and replied, "I laugh because I must not cry; That's all - that's all."
Since the election and inauguration (which I did not watch) of Donald Trump, I'm slowly making my way out of despair to determination to resist. I can't do a lot, but I will do what I can. There's nothing wrong with having a little fun along the way, and we can count on Stephen Colbert and many others to make us laugh.
Most
of us prefer easy answers. But here we are invited to live in a place
of holy tension, depending on God’s grace to show us when tolerance and
patience towards others is called for, and when we are being called to
noncooperation and resistance in the face of evil.
-Br. David Vryhof Society of Saint John the Evangelist
