Not Kewl

I had some time on my hands last night and decided to do a search for humour and cancer. I was in a positive mood and thought that a light-hearted check might be a good way to spend some time whilst my wife was out with friends. I have also touched on the subject recently and wondered whether there was more information available than when I last looked. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

It's a difficult and sensitive subject and like anything serious, people often believe that any attempt at humour is disrespectful. I tried images first. There always seems to be thousands of these when I search for other subjects but in this case, there very few indeed, and those I did discover were mostly in French for some reason. Visually, humour and cancer does seem to be peculiarly Gallic.

I then took a look at some of the websites that the search located and again, not a massive success. I did find a place that offered examples of Awesome Things To Say To A Cancer Patient but these were strangely not awesome at all. I know that in our house if someone said “may I pray for you?” or “do you need someone to co-ordinate volunteers?” they may not get the response that they were hoping for. I was also just a little surprised to find that there is actually a list of the top ten signs that your spouse is trying to give you cancer! Incredible.

One site very kindly mentioned a whole list of films that might make cancer patients laugh. I am sure Dumb and Dumber, Shrek and Ace Ventura, Pet Detective are likely to make some people laugh, but I would suggest that they are more likely to be under the age of about 12 than have any special meaning for cancer patients. But I am open to correction on this point if anyone feels differently.

I will take another look when time permits. Sadly the only thing I was able to take away from my brief research, and very unwillingly at that, was a peculiar line from a place that thought that there was humour in suggesting that a bad way of telling friends and relatives that you have cancer is to send the following text message....omg! I've got cancer. Not kewl. :(

True but just wierd.