Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Laughter and Grief

If you really want to know a culture look at two things, how they laugh and how they grieve.  The laughter will show you their joy and the beauty of their humanity, and the grief will show you how much they really value that joy as the gaping hole that is the absence of a human life throws into sharp relief what has been lost.  The Senegalese laugh hard.  They are always smiling and seemingly ever ready to take joy from the world around them.  A world which in all honesty often gives them little to be joyful about.  This absolute love of life means that the Senegalese grieve hard as well.  Loss of life is absolutely devastating to them and they grieve it like nothing I've ever seen.  The men sit quietly weeping while the women wail.  I've experienced few things in my short life as primal as the Senegalese funeral of a young man killed in a car accident that I went to this past week.  And that's all I have to say about that. 
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2 comments:

  1. ValerieNovember 24, 2010 at 3:58 PM

    Thanks for sharing, Garrison. That must have been a tremendously powerful experience, and a privilege to witness.

    Strangely, I envy them having 'permission' to express their grief that way. I think it's a lot more natural than what we do in the West behind closed doors.

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  2. Randy HarwardNovember 24, 2010 at 5:25 PM

    Thanks for sharing Garrison. You connect us to a group of people so far away. If it's in any way possible, please let people know that people a world away are inspired by their joy and share their grief for the senseless loss of someone close. At Patagonia we lost Kevin Green last night as he was driving to Mammoth to go skiing, all are grieving today, so your post hits home.

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