I watched an old clip of the first Saturday Night Live
episode to air after September 11, 2001 (three weeks later) and mused on how
completely well done they did it.
It opened with Rudy Giuliani flanked by NYC Chief of Police
and NYC Chief of Firefighters with a crowd of personnel behind them. They were solemn and sincere and the
audience honored them profusely with a long stream of applause. Something everyone needed.
Major Giuliani spoke a chunk of heartfelt words, after which
Paul Simon sang a heartfelt song, with his sweet voice and poetic lyrics.
Then Executive Producer Lorne Michaels came on stage. Giuliani essentially told him the show
must go on as they are a NYC institution.
Only at this point did the comedy begin with Michaels asking Giuliani “Can we be funny?” To which Giuliani replies “Why start
now?” And everyone got to laugh.
People sometimes ask me “Is it ever inappropriate to
laugh?” This scenario is the
answer. Take whatever time is
needed to honor the tragedy, and then and only then, let the laughter begin;
for everyone needs the healing more than ever.
I attended my first program on Laughter Yoga just after
911. The leaders handled it
well. They spoke of the timing and
confessed that they considered cancelling the event but chose not to. It was something we all needed. For me it was tender timing to the
start of this vocational journey of bringing more laughter into the world.
