Get Shouty

Humour can be a mask.

I also believe it is a choice, and a valid way of processing pain.

I like the power in the perspective- how fast can this be funny?

How can I retell this well?

It makes me think of The Vinegar Tasters , a traditional Chinese painting. It shows the three founders of China’s major philosophical traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

The three men (Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi) are dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a sweet expression. Each man’s expression represents the attitude of his philosophy: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state.

My favourite interpretation is when Laozi laughs at the taste.

And the barrel is full of pickles.

I’m a big fan of fermentation too.