October 16, 1854 –
Today is the birthday of Oscar Wilde – known for his barbed wit, one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and among the greatest celebrities of his day.
Between bouts of sparkling repartee and posing for his Sodomite Trading Card photo, he somehow found time to write the following passage in The Picture of Dorian Gray: “Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world’s original sin. If the caveman had known how to laugh, History would have been different.” Unfortunately for Oscar, had he fled England in the spring of 1895, his history would indeed have been different.
I believe cavemen did, in fact, know how to laugh – and that people who accuse humanity of being too serious simply aren’t paying attention. Voluminous scientific research has incontrovertibly proven that we are the only species to giggle at one another’s farts.
It reminds us that our lives are haphazard accidents in an indifferent world—and that the very absurdity of life is what gives it its greatest meaning. Burp. Laugh.
Ignore the serious bastards – and remember: the only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
The Haus of Dcaligari 