by Steve McFall (Chaplain Intern)
“Laughter is like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones,” a wise person once said. We see
this broken spirit drying up bones often at Central Outreach and Advocacy. Homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and broken relationships. And then I see the smile of a social worker or the laugh of a staff person. And it’s just like a glimmer, a ray of sunshine medicates the room with a dose of hope, mercy and kindness. I serve as a social worker and Chaplain intern at COA. Most often I am in a small office in an area with three other offices around, we are close together, but I get to hear the laugh of the social worker around me and even for my heart it feels like a vitamin. We gather each morning to share joys and concerns, most often we are given doses of laughter to share as a vaccine to brokenness. I am 62 years old and have spent my life in non-profits, and this group of staff and volunteers has something special to share with a broken world, maybe I’ve just realized it. They have the vaccine to brokenness that they generate each day to numerous guests with the symptoms of a drying up spirit. It’s the miracle working drug of laughter, dispensed in capsules of kindness, injections of smiles and doses of hospitality.