Friday, March 20, 2015

Will Rogers and the Power of  Laughter

WILL ROGERS WAS BORN about a hundred years ago on his family’s ranch near the city of Claremont, Oklahoma. In those days that part  of Oklahoma was known as Indian Territory. It had been settled by Cherokee  Indians, and Will’s mother  and father were part Cherokee Indian.

Will’s father , a hard working man, had one of the finest ranches in the territory. Many visitors stayed at the family’s beautiful and roomy house. Here young Will met many interesting people.

When Will was very young , he learned to use a lasso. The rope was tied so that it formed a loop at the end. He would twirl the loop around and than snap the rope so the loop flew out and settled around a fence post or tree  stump. When he pulled on the rope , the loop would tighten.
Soon he was catching, or ‘’roping’’ as cowboys  say, everything in sight , indoors and out. 

When he was five years old , he was given his first horse , and in no time he became an expert horseman. For young Will Rogers, happiness was a horse, a lasso, and the wide open range.

Then it came time for him to start school. He was never a good student. When he was older he was sorry he had not worked hard at getting  a good education. He did not like to study. Instead he liked to tell jokes and stories, dazzle people with his rope tricks , and make people laugh.

Finally he left school and became a cowboy in Texas. For a while  he worked as a cowboy in Argentina and South Africa.

Will Rogers liked being a cowboy, but his love of people and laughter led him finally to become an entertainer. The tricks he could do with the lasso got him jobs with shows in South Africa and Australia. Then he brought his act to New York city. Audiences liked his rope tricks and his wonderful way of telling jokes.
  In  a few years Will Rogers was appearing on Broadway, but his act had changed. He learned that people liked his sense of humor even more than rope tricks.
He talked about the events of the day, poking fun at just about everyone and everything in gentle, good-natured way.

 One time Will joked about doctors: “ Personally, I have always felt that  the best doctor in the world is the veterinarian. He can’t ask his patients what is the matter-he’s got to just know.

Another  time he joked about one of his favourite subjects, politics and politicians. “I could study all my life and not think  half amount of funny things they can think of in one session of Congress”.

People everywhere came to know Will Roberts as the Cowboy Philosopher. His funny remarks often seemed to reveal the truth about life. Even as he made Americans laugh, he got them to think.

 Once Will Rogers said:” I never met a man I didn’t like.” He never tried to hurt anyone for a laugh. He always treated laughter as a way to help people to understand one another better. He joked about president, politicians, and other important people. But very few became angry. In fact, almost everybody considered Will Rogers a friend.

 When the Great Depression came, millions of people lost their jobs. Life was hard for nearly everyone. but Will Rogers helped cheer Americans. The laughter he brought into their lives gave them courage to forget their troubles and keep working for a happier future.


 In 1935 Will Rogers was killed while flying to Alaska with his friend Wiley Post. People everywhere were sad about the loss of the man who brought so much laughter in the world.

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