For business! New Popular Science Books: How to Stay Cheerful in Troubled Times

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Sereno Jolly, that’s what they called me in the Boy Scouts. I don’t know why Rovers called me that then. But they probably had their own reasons, since, in naming them, they like to refer to the quality, the external feature of the pater in question. Have I always been in a good mood? Am I always telling jokes? Or am I always smiling? If it was the latter, then perhaps it was just a defensive reaction on my part, because I remember how scared I was at a dispute in the night forest at baptism.

“Laughter kills fear,” writes Axel Hake (67) in his recently published book. “Laughter sets you free.” The German journalist and writer is known and popular for his weekly column in the magazine “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and author of best-selling books such as the controversially titled “Derweiße Neger Wumbaba”, which humorously deals with investigators in the lyrics. He is currently writing On Cheerfulness in Hard Times, a follow-up to his bestseller On Decency in Hard Times (2017).

In fact, things are not going well for either of them right now, as more and more people live in the world in a serious and selfish way. When I interviewed him about the book Decency, he said, “My book is about the questions everyone should ask themselves.” The only person you can truly change in a meaningful way is yourself. In the new lyrics, Hake wonders how he can bring joy to life. “Most people think that someone who writes with humor is always, so to speak, funny,” he writes.

Yes, those who read Hake have something to laugh at. This book from a less amusing era is also a pleasure, because Hake delivers his subject not only with professional competence, but also with a linguistic brilliance otherwise known only to writers of fiction. Here’s how he describes the effect after just one drink: “I’m tipsy then – just like a joke cheers me up, and usually I’m cheered up by the company of good friends.”

Alcohol, humor, comedy, jokes, laughter, smiles, friendliness – “Some aspects seem obvious,” writes Hake. “Some others may not, at first glance, have much to do with this topic.” He calls: trifles, free spaces, distance, self-forgetfulness, consolation. “If we take it seriously, our life is impossible without cheerfulness,” Hake says. “Otherwise we would be very sad, and what good is that? And what kind of life is this: always sad?

Does Hake underestimate the gravity of the situation? No, but he advocates throwing yourself at things you can influence. “From this point of view, being a cheerful person means freeing yourself from expectations, from excesses, from overworking yourself,” he writes. “It’s not about ignoring the heavy, but about turning it into something light.” An attempt at patient self-education.

Source: Blick