Lavo Standard (19) (10-14-09)

Looking up the definitions of “peace” in the Oxford Dictionary, the first entry is, “a situation or a period of time in which there is no war or violence in a country or an area.” However, when someone is asked, “What is peace?,” he or she might indicate a place wherein many people smile. Surely, a smile is likely a symbol of peace.

Today, a reduced total of people seems to smile after the economic turmoil spread throughout the globe last year. Therefore, more people must be skeptical over whether the world is peaceful.

But certainly, there are those, professional or not, combating fewer smiles: comedians.

Regular people who are not professional comedians at times demonstrate the essence of comedy: They sometimes distort facts or notions in an attempt to put some inconvenient fact out of their mind or find hope in man-made stories.

There are easy ways to meet this end, among which there is exaggeration. For instance, when a man has lost 100 dollars, his sadness could be eased by a comment: “You lost one million dollars? Really?” Meanwhile, showing eccentric physical movements can also draw attention, as professional performers do, some of which can be of use for ordinary people as well.

As comedians also concoct fictitious stories, regular people can do their own, a world into which another person is invited. As they see characters in a story either striving in a difficult situation or being pleased in an ensuing happy one--the nature of each situation can be related to that of a viewer--they may empathize with them and be encouraged.

Some of these people may aim to get off the ground as a professional comedian, to see smiles radiate across the faces of the audience or earn a living. Or, both.

For them, fortunately, despite the stiff competition to achieve the goal--which accompanies high income--school fees are relatively cheap.

For instance, one of the most popular schools for comedians asks each student to graduate through a one-year course of curricula for 400 thousand yen, roughly 4 thousand dollars, to allow many of them to give it a shot. (Although it is said that the average income of unpopular comedians is a modicum even if they are professional.)

Once one has procured a steady, desirable position, however, they are to be helped by broadcasts and publications to efficiently produce each multitude of smiles. They, moreover, can become successful more rapidly since their agents ask them to play multiple roles as a TV personality, an actor/actress, a singer, a model, a narrator and/or a writer, once they are considered to have begun catching on. (Due to this convention, music companies and publishers benefit more, taking advantage of up-coming comedians.) As a result, there formed an environment in which more people are motivated to pursue such a dream, mindful of previous successful cases.

Meanwhile, when regular people make use of humor, there is the same danger which is posed to professional comedians.

First, an attempt could accidentally get on the nerves of people with a certain sore point while amusing others, so it should be made carefully each time.

Second, there are situations in which unusual behavior could be regarded as inappropriate: Both remarking a joke and making strange physical movements are sometimes effective methods for running communication between people smoothly, though, people should choose both the right time and the right place.

Third, manipulating facts could end up confusing and offending people when the degree of the contortion is not far enough, or when a joke/physical expression is made too explicitly, specifying a group of people, on whose feature it capitalizes on.

Even in the professional field, as for which it goes without saying how difficult winning competitions and being registered as a pro are, due to these risks, it’s said that broadcasters enforce stringent censorship on comedians and this inconvenience lets them engage in other kinds of jobs. Therefore, ironically, successful comedians can function only as a comedian with heavier fetters, while needing to be knowledgeable, observant, and judicious. [I fail to understand why this is “ironic”]

After all, despite all these risks, people with personal problems, whether they are professional, often make jokes or strange physical movements to encourage someone else, feeding the blooming of more and more smiles. Although there is a clear distinction between a smile and laughter, such a panoramic view with flowers should be a common phenomenon everyone in every nation hopes to see.

Some distance away from the panic around the damaged train car, both Keyron and Juno were crying almost side by side as they were sitting on the same set of seats on the platform. Both station announcements and the mixed sirens of fire engines and ambulances were going around ceaselessly. The flames of the car looked almost extinguished, with the remainders flickering, though, paramedics were yelling while treating victims--Juno had witnessed that several passengers had been directly engulfed.

The scene, in which a few kids about the same age as Juno were also burning, was so shocking that she could not stop shuddering and kept crying. Regardless of the argument, she wanted to jump into Suzan’s bosom as soon as possible, but the train did not look as though it would resume its operation anytime soon. Although Juno thought that she had better connect buses to go back home, she, with her legs shaking, couldn’t get on foot. “Mom,” the word was often inserted in her sobbing.

Sitting on a secondary seat from Juno, Keyron kept stroking the back of dead Jade on his lap.

He could not believe unearthly incidents that had happened to him: the lady in favor of him turned out to be his cat; she was attacked by a bird monster to death. The only thing wished to be granted to him was a chance to perform a comedy with the cat sitting by, again.

As Keyron turned right, however, the girl whom Jade was tailing was crying as well. She must be wanting to go home, he speculated and was urged to brave himself.

“Hey, why are you crying? Because you watched the havoc? Oh, I understand the incident must have saddened you,” Keyron came in front of Juno and said. Juno looked up to him and opened her mouth.

“You were crying too. Your cat was killed by Ric, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she was. But my cat, Jade, would not want to leave you drowning in the sea of sadness if she was alive,” Keyron said and picked an artificial moustache out of his trousers’ pocket. Then he bowed down to Juno deeply, put the piece on top of the bald head, and said, “My hair is receding,” making Juno frozen. Keyron felt that it was successful, stopping her trepidation even for a moment. Immediately, he picked out a marker and began drawing eyes and a mouth around the attached moustache.

“Hi, I’m Durian, the same name as the notorious fruit with rank smells,” said the drawn face.

In response, Keyron stood bolt upright and said, “Hey, Durian, you are again stinky, aren’t you? What havoc do you always wreak on my nose?”

Again Keyron bowed down and Durian said, “By the way Keyron, don’t you think that the family of this girl is waiting for her? Why don’t you help her go to a bus stop?”

“That’s right, Durian!,” with the momentum of straightening his back, Keyron broke wind with a loud pop.

“Keyron, you are stinky as well, aren’t you!?,” Durian was annoyed--although Juno was no longer crying.

After calling Suzan and assuring her of Juno’s safety by his cellular phone, both Keyron and Juno arrived at the Ichikawa station by connecting buses. Keyron was seeing Juno off as she was boarding the bus which would take her to near her house.

“Thank you both so much, Keyron and Durian,” Juno said with a smile.

“Take care, Juno,” Keyron said.

“See you again, Juno,” Durian followed.

Making another smile, Juno disappeared onto the crowded bus which, then, left the place.

The job gets accomplished, Keyron thought and made an almost unrecognizable smile. Sitting on his arms, the cat must have been feeling satisfied too.

Over the carcass, yet, tears of its owner were given life, again.

“You must have known that I shaved my hair to perform this stupid thing.”

“We did well, Jade. Let’s go back to our home.”