The New Hall, or I guess its Clark and Marion hall now, is a place I have never really cared for. A couple of my friends live there and older Resident Assistants just infect the place continuously asking if you live there and waiting for your friends to come down to get you from the lobby. This time my buddies and I walked in, not to be greeted by any one, just silence. There was a eeriness to it. I mean it was late, but not late enough for no one to be up in the New Hall.
This absence of power gave us the freedom to say what ever we want and at what ever decibel we desire. We continue this while we wait for the elevator to arrive. Once we enter we increase the sound as it seems we are able to escape the environment that could connect us to any sort of problems. Just as the elevator is about to close, my friend's RA barely catches the door. Silence takes over the elevator and our eyes are all just glued to each other's, just trying to hold in the laughter. After we got out of the elevator, with the RA right in front of us, we just burst into laughter. This continued shortly as we walked until we both split paths and entered out respective house holds.
Partially what sparked this wave of laughter was due to the pure awkwardness of the situation and the fact that we were surprised by his abrupt presence into our conversation. It was probably the person we least expected to see and wasn't necessarily the most desired person we'd hope to see. It was purely situational and was one of those "you had to be there" moments.
But I think this type of humor can explain something about ourselves. It shows our true carelessness to some situations. Though this situation I had in New Hall may have been a little distasteful due to the fact it was someone of power, it would have been the same with anyone. This sense of pure laughter reminds me of someone bursting with freedom and they can't control it. They feel fully comfortable with letting go and entering this sense of "carelessness" and true contentment.
Overall, this outburst of laughter was very interesting looking at after taking part in this class. It gives me an idea about the sources of our laughter and our true emotions while laughing. And eventually helping me trying to formulate my own answer to the question Why Do People Laugh?
Thanks for the good commentary on laughter.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I found this story to be really funny. I have had my fair share of awkward moments with RA's. I bet you all talk about this and reflect on it all the time. I hope the RA didn't think you were being mean. I have always wondered why the RA's are so nosey in the new halls, but I assume it has to do with security purposes.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to me how somethings cause us to break out into uncontrollable laughter. A lot of times I feel that it is caused by just being with your best friends and finding awkward situations funny because you have others to laugh with. I hope you and your friend's relationship with his RA isn't tarnished too badly after this incident.