http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/03/solar-storms-their-impact-and-how-to-prepare-by-tamara-w.html
In crisis-ravaged Greece, ‘laughter clubs’ are booming
Posted by Anthee Carassava on March 17, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/03/17/in-crisis-ravaged-greece-many-laugh-off-austerity/
ATHENS — Huddled in a nondescript basement in central Athens, a group of wildly diverse strangers work up a sweat.
They drop their heads forward, relax their shoulder muscles and start up an exercise routine, raising their hands, gently, to the sky.
They breathe in. They breathe out. And then, they unleash a burst of gut-busting, side-splitting, tear-jerking laughter that has their heads whipping back up; their bodies wobbling like giant Jack-in-the-Box surprises.
Although it was amusing, I loathed every second of it. It seemed strikingly silly and utterly awkward, making me wondering whether my compatriots were going mad.
They aren’t, though; quite the contrary, in fact.
Three years into a crippling recession that has reduced incomes here by as much as 60 percent, increased the number of suicides by 40 percent and forced 1.3 million people onto growing unemployment lines, Greeks are grappling with ways to remain sane. And while the country’s financial crisis is no laughing matter, many of them are turning to what some call a free cure to just about any ailment: laughter. (read more....)
No comments:
Post a Comment