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Okay, folks, it’s time for a little levity. You up for it?

Well, then, here goes:

An invisible man married an invisible woman. They had a child, but it wasn’t much to look at.

The trooper pulled over an automobile, driven by a priest.

“Sir,” he said, “you have been driving erratically. Have you been drinking?”

“Just water, officer.”

Then the trooper saw an empty wine bottle on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

“How do you explain that?” he asked, pointing at the bottle.

The priest paused, then said, “He’s done it again!”

There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who can count, and those who can’t.

An Irishman walked out of a bar. Well . . . it COULD happen.

“I was sorry to hear about your divorce,” a man said to a friend.

“Well,” replied the man, “we had almost fifteen good years.”

“I thought you were married a lot longer than that.”

“We were. We were married more than twenty-five years. Like I said, we had almost fifteen good years.”

What is written on a dentist’s grave marker? “He’s filling his last cavity.”

If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you’ll have trouble putting on your pants.

Enough, already (as they say in Jersey.)

While the few samples of humor you have just read, had probably already heard, anyway, weren’t “gut busting” funny, the larger point I wish to make here is that laughter really is the best medicine.

There are various studies that seem to confirm the salutary effects of laughter.

“A study at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine indicated that heart attack survivors who watched 30 minutes of funny videos daily reduced their risk of recurrent heart disease.

“Other researchers have concluded that laughter may help burn calories, raise the level of infection fighting antibodies and boost the levels of immune cells. Humor has shown lower blood sugar levels in diabetics, and mental health workers are using laughter therapy in their treatment protocols.” (Prem Sharma, DDS, MS, who served as Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Alumni Affairs at the Marquette University School of Dentistry. He is also the author of three novels.)

That there are some who seem to rarely laugh may simply be an individual personality characteristic. I count myself fortunate in that I love to laugh and see humor in many situations.

I do not like so-called humor that insults or ridicules others, or is laced with crass racial or sexual content. There is no need for that. None.

The more difficult the times — individually, and for our country — the more we need laughter. It won’t solve problems, but it helps in coping.

If you’re free this time next week, let’s get together again.