A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B.La Follette ?* A LL YOUR CHILDREN have a sense of humor, XX haven't they?" remarked a friend in a group discussing school problems. "They'd have to, with a name...
...Those of you who have read the excerpts from Phil's letters will sense in them, I think, a comforting humor and perspective toward his own problems there, which is apparently typical of the American soldier everywhere...
...Bob And The Longo Cause Hints and suggestions can be "gotten over" to people by this method which protects one's ego with the saving grace of laughter...
...They'd have to, with a name like La Follette, if they are to survive," commented another...
...And since we are all looking" for constructive suggestions these days, why don't the movies get Robert Benchley to do one of his magnificent "shorts" illustrating how to fill out one's income tax...
...as she sailed out of the door...
...Mine is just the opposite...
...In an attempt to comfort another banqueter worrying over her nephew's going into action in the South Pacific, I remarked that most of the boys in service seem to catch the fever and want to get into combat...
...I assented, but only sheer will power plus the old sense of humor kept me from adding, "But it's fortunate the outcome of the war does not depend on you and me alone...
...Gaus—you are speaking of the man I love...
...As he read it I was urging him to hurry with his lunch so that we could get at the dishes, but he informed me, "Mother, don't bother' me with the insignificant details of life—I am reading about my cause...
...A group of my friends were ribbing Judy, about Frank Sinatra, which she took in her stride until, in reply to the thrust direct, she emoted in true movie tones, "Mr...
...Over the years a philosopher friend and I have had a running argument as to its definition...
...The closest I can come is "a sense of perspective—the ability to see oneself in relation to the world and its inhabitants and to get amusement from the sight...
...The elderly gentleman pinioned me with bitter eyes and the words, "I certainly wouldn't approve of that...
...The danger of a sense of humor applied to one's problems is, of course, that one's own part in the various aspects of life may appear so insignificant as to affect or even destroy one's enthusiasm for participation...
...Driving home from a debate on the public utility ownership question I observed to a friend that it took a meeting like that to make me ache for my fighting clothes, but her reaction was, "Oh, really...
...I get a lift out of merely imagining such a treat, don't you...
...But as time went by, I observed, I found it a real asset not to be bothered by people I'd have nothing in common with and might have wasted some of my valuable time on...
...There are so many grand people one can't see enough of...
...31 issue of The Progressive by McAlister Coleman) received a letter from Mr...
...I went on to tell him how when I first came to Madison to live and was told that so-and-so wouldn't sit down at the table with a La Follette, I just couldn't understand such intolerance...
...It is an inestimable strength because of the physical and emotional restorative power of laughter...
...Of course, you are young, I continued, and your interests and values may vary or change with your own experience, and Bob retorted with a twinkle, "Maybe in college, but not in the Army...
...We all have the experience these days of sitting "tied in bow knots" through a war movie, while a good comedy relaxes and refreshes...
...When I passed this along to Judy, she objected, "You can't teach a person a sense of humor," but I held that while some people are born with it, the rest can at least cultivate what they have...
...Or when I remarked that she might as well move a cot down town and just roll it from one movie theater to another, she sang out, "Mother, you hurt me...
...As we discussed the matter, Bob commented, "Of course, it isn't fair that I should get a personal letter from Longo on account of my name when lots of other guys probably sent more and didn't get one...
...The two older children and I have been very conscious of the boon of humor in seeing us through the tough problems of this period when they have been in the sensitive adolescent years...
...Longo making suggestions for further activity On Bob's part and pointing out that Bob should not "underestimate the power" of his name...
...What, then, is a "sense of humor...
...Isen's taught them to have one...
...Why waste time on such ignorance ?" Our Bob, in response to a contribution to the Longo fund (the spearhead of the anti-Hague fight described in the Jan...
...I assented but pointed out that through his school years he had been conscious of the responsibility of his name, and that as he got older he would get deep pleasure from the associations connected with that name...
...Suggestion For Movie Makers We had a good laugh, too, over the elderly gentleman and his women-folk who sat opposite me at a "banquet" the other evening and whose mouths tightened into straight lines whenever their eyes caught mine...
Vol. 8 • March 1944 • No. 10
