If it is spring or summer, perhaps you don't want to read this. But, I am writing it in mid-winter ...so as to not speak lightly of anyone's sensitivities.

I do think we are generally becoming too sensitive of a society ...yet, at the same time becoming dangerously insensitive.

We appear much offended by things we perhaps need to hear, or by things we've heard that had no real offence intended by those statements.  I personally feel no one should joke about another's suffering ...at least, while they are suffering. Though I know some people who would not be bothered by this. And I guess it sort of depends on what kind of suffering.

In this case, I'm speaking of poison ivy.  Being in the throngs of winter, I know of no one who is presently suffering from that. And the two people that I knew of this past summer who had it, were what you might call, men's men ...and they wouldn't care if you chuckled a bit.

But, here goes:

Doctor: What seems to be the problem?  What brings you here today?

Patient: I have a rash ...I think it's poison ivy.

Doctor: Is the rash localized?

Patient: What do you mean?

Doctor: I mean, is it in one area?

Patient: I guess so ...I know of three other people who have it in my neighborhood.

Doctor: No, I mean, is it in one spot ...or is it all over?

Patient: It's not all over ...I still have it.  That's why I came here. And to answer your question about being in one spot ...I think poison ivy grows lots of places.

The Book of Ecclesiastes says, " ...a time to weep, and a time to laugh;" Sometimes the ivy causes blisters that weep, and perhaps that's not the time to laugh at that sort of discomfort. Maybe several months down the road, you're still not laughing.

Perhaps most people spend their day being professional ...and few people get paid for being funny.  I would probably be broke if I depended upon making a living that way.  The doctor didn't laugh either.  

Yet, after being a bit serious throughout the day, when needs be, there is often a need to relax and unwind.  Maybe we can sit back and laugh at a little Abbott & Costello-type humor.

But, not all humor is in good taste.  Psychologists are often a bit more generous. They have commented on how people need an outlet.  I've read articles which put forth arguments justifying the health benefits of exploring various forms of entertainment within the safe confines of your home, a theater, or a night club. And it has been said that TV and movies merely strive to become more genuine and realistic ...to mirror real life.  And besides, they say it helps them to feel better about themselves ...seeing that they are not the only ones struggling with those sort of problems.

Others have questioned whether TV and movies mirror life ...or if they strive too much to reach the extremes for entertainment or shock value.  And perhaps the extremes which are not that common, become more common as a result of each occurrence of it viewed through the daily mediums of entertainment.  It does seem to have a sort of numbing effect.

Arthur Gordon, in his book, Through Many Windows, speaks of how people are often initially appalled by things ...then, with each additional occurrence of successive shock value, the end result often becomes a ready acceptance of something that not too much before had been abhorred. As Arthur puts it so well, "A sense of outrage is fragile thing; it crumbles under a succession of shocks until finally it vanishes, leaving us accepting almost automatically what once we would have despised." 

Perhaps we should be mindful of that if we ever say, "That's unheard of!"  Beware!! ...may be more fitting, as the first mention of something can be considered an introductory remark ...and it will probably come up again.  It is often referred to as ---testing the waters.

T. S. Elliot questioned a psychologist's explanation for his support of pornography.  He explained how it would be, if we were to go to a country where most all the people were suffering malnutrition and starving.  He said, you'd not be able to take a huge juicy steak ...and parade it in front of the starving people, thinking it would satisfy their appetite.  Nor would you serve a buffet of all-you-can-eat ice cream sundaes to an ABA group ...Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous.