Initials, according to
Oxford Advanced Learner ’ s Dictionary has as
one of its
meanings the first letters of
all of a
person’s names. A
name serves a major purpose
of identification, so simplifying
it equally means
a simplified means
of identification, based
on an individual’s peculiarity. An initial is therefore
an identifier based on individual
peculiarities. It singles out
or narrows down
a search of
a particular person
regardless of the
close resemblance to any other.
Archeological and
anthropological evidences give credence to the similarity of human being to
many other creatures, whether extinct or extant. Charles Darwin and his disciples, the evolution theorists,
believe that man
developed over the
years through stages
and this accounts for
the very close resemblance of
man to some
species of primates,
such as chimpanzee, whose
developmental process ended at
a stage next
to that of
mankind . Drawing a conclusion
from this, the
additional development that
took place at
this final stage of evolution
forms the core of man ’s peculiar identity.
Early philosophers starting from Aristotle submits that “man is the sole animal that laughs”
and also the only animal that possesses
the capacity to speak or think rationally (logos).
Lucian, the philosopher - satirist from the
2nd Century AD also ascribed solely to man, the capacity
to calculate. Other philosophers
such as Prophyry, Marcianus Capella,
Notker Labeo and
Boethius, in the
6th century emphasized laughter
as the privilege
of the rational
human being and
also characterized the capacity
to laugh as
the proprium of
humanity. They are all disciples of
the homo ridens tradition which
was earlier laid by Aristotle.
Many recent studies
actually postulate that
animals can laugh
but another school
of thought which I subscribed to, maintained that actual laughter (which
means the sound and movement
of the face,
that people make
when they think
something is funny)
is only possible by
man, and all
other forms of
expression in other
creatures such as ape, chimpanzee, parrot, dog, cat etc, which the zeitgeists regards as laughter are
not laughter in the real sense
of the word.
So in my
own opinion ,
just like other animals
have several means of communication but cannot be said to be engaged in
a speech, so do other animals express their happy emotions but which cannot be
rightly described as laughter. Therefore, with a community consideration of the
foregoing, one cannot be entirely wrong to conclude with a tone of authority
that speech, capacity to calculate, capacity to think rationally and a sense of
humour are the initials or proprium of humanity.
It therefore behooves mankind to realize the essence of their humanity
by appreciating that which separates them from other animals. Ordinarily,
these peculiarities should
be an added advantage,
an edge for humanity over and
above other creatures.
But according to Aristotle,” there is a difference between potentiality
and actuality”, this same difference is such that exists between information
and knowledge, while the formal is residue, the latter is active. A man that
cannot talk is dumb, a man that cannot calculate is a fool, a man that cannot
rationalize is mad, and a man that has no sense of humour is worse.
Although all these peculiarities
exist naturally in
every human being ,
but yet, it
takes a conscious effort to nurse
them and develop them. A man who fails to develop any of these abilities is not
by any means better than any other animal, remember Tarzan. The fellow is
just like a
diplomat, consciously shedding
his paraphernalia of
office in a
foreign land and roaming the streets incognito, he will be
accorded no privileges and treated like every other person on the
street. It is in the light of this
that mankind has never stopped or relent
in their cause to
improve and better develop their
initials through; trainings,
researches, innovations and
inventions. But over
the years an
overwhelming large portion
of mankind has
ignorantly relegated the humorous part of their humanity, forgetting
that whatever a manufacturer builds
in a luxury
car is either
for better performance,
comfort or proper
maintenance. Speech in man
is for performance,
rationality is for
comfort, capacity to
calculate is for proper
maintenance and humour
is to aid
and enhance the
functionality of all
others. Humour has
been bestowed on
humanity to make
their life stress
free, victorious and fulfilling, but many do not really and fully appreciate humour, which
is the greatest gift of the creator
to humanity, without
it humanity would
have been frustrated
out of either existence or sanity.
The blog
www.humourality.blogspot.com is
launched to open the eyes of humanity to the ageless and priceless value of
humour, its nature, its benefits, its advantages, its merits, its requirements, its
processes, its stages,
its usages, its applications and
its limits. The blog will also publish live interviews of
successful men and women, who have discovered and evoked the magic of
humour to build
a successful career,
achieve enviable feats,
humble stubborn adversaries,
resuscitate dwindling fortunes ,
propagate ideologies, propound
theories and silence lousy
oppositions without breaking
a sweat. So, welcome to the stress free victorious
lifestyle: HUMOURALITY.
-A.K. AFOUDA SAMUEL LLB, BL
The introduction
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