On Keeping Our Sense of Humor at Work

(Oy, this was supposed to be published on July 16th, but inadvertently appeared a month ago. Oh well. But if you missed it then, here it is again. Or maybe it's worth another read?)

 

It's important to keep our sense of humor - even if our work is causing us a lot of grief.

Ideally, we conduct our daily labors in a measured, calm, peaceful manner. We begin with an intention of doing all for Greater Glory of God. We sustain that intention in moments of recollection throughout the day. When we hit bumps in the road, we turn to Our Lord and place our trust in Him, that He will show us how to smooth the bumps. If the bumps grow into mountains He will guide and strengten us. If storms, we take refuge in Him, knowing that His Holy Spirit will provide the guidance and light to help us find our way out of any difficulties and trouble.

Well, it's an ideal. Reality sometimes doesn't match that ideal. Our fallen human nature sometimes gains the upper hand.

So in that spirit, we turn to a passage from Father Willie. We remind ourselves that this was written in the midst of his service as a military chaplain in WW I. Indeed, this missive seems to be written directly from the front line.

Those of us who have studied or been made aware of the horrors of the trench warfare of WWI might understand just a tad how remarkable these words really are. They reflect a character that could retain some sense of humor even in the midst of horror.

We might also recognize that a good part of the war the Russian government visited on Ukraine consists of trench warfare. Yes, even today, in our modern tech age, soldiers are hunkered down in conditions we can hardly imagine.

With Father Willie's words, we include the commentary that accompanied them. You can find this and so much more. Both can help to bolster our sense of humor, even in the midst of the most difficult days at work.

As you might like to know how the ‘game of raiding your neighbour’ is played, a sort of novelty for your next garden party, I shall give you a few particulars. You dig two trenches about 100 yards apart and fill one with the enemy, who are well provided with hand bombs, machine guns etc. Some night when you think they won’t expect your coming, a party of your men climb over the top of their parapet and start to crawl a là Red Indian towards the foe. It is exciting work for star shells are going up every few minutes and lighting up No Man’s Land, during which time your men lie on their faces motionless, probably cursing the inventor of the said star-shells and praying for Egyptian darkness. It is part of the game that if the enemy see you, they promptly paste you with bombs (which hurt) or give you a shower bath of leaden bullets. For this reason, when the game is played at garden parties it is recommended to place husbands in one trench and wives in the other and to oppose P.P.’s or Rev. Mothers by their curates and communities; in this way accuracy of aim is wonderfully improved and the casualties delightfully high, which is a desideratum in these days, when the supper hour arrives.

COMMENT: Fr Doyle wrote these words to his father on this day in 1917. His aim was to give a humorous description of an attack on an enemy trench.

How can people not love Fr Willie Doyle??!!

Imagine the scenario. There he is after some chaotic days of hard and dangerous work (see posts from May 23-25 for some description of these days). He was undoubtedly exhausted; we know that the weather on these days was intensely hot – he described writing the letter under a “blazing sun” which was so bad it almost made him wish for the ice of winter. Yet he found the time to write a funny description of one aspect of trench life in order to entertain his father (this was part of a much longer letter). And what simple, witty humour he displays – “they paste you with bombs (which hurt)” and he tells us that if you want to imitate this type of attack at a garden party that putting husbands and wives in opposite trenches will ensure that “accuracy of aim is wonderfully improved”!! Here is a wonderfully down to earth man who sought to place everything in life in a positive light.