Announcing SOS: The Society of Smilers

(Photo: Look before ewe leap!)


Ladies and Gents of all URLs and persuasions, I take enormous pleasure in announcing the formation of the Society of Smilers (SOS), hereinafter known as Grates, a grinning group of goodhearted folk who are the polar opposite of the Sect of Grouches (SOG), to be known as Ingrates.
Let it be known now and foreverafter that the Grates, of whom I am a proud member, are indeed thankful to those unknown, unsung and ungrouchy folks who conceive, create and disburse—without pay or personal gain, purely for the pleasure of people they will never meet, never see and never collect a thank you from—such materials whose sole purpose is to produce a grin via the anonymous vehicle of that mysterious megalithic connector-of-all: the Internet.
SOS salutes these faceless jokesters, caption writers, toilers-in-the-night who put together screensful of mirth, hilarious mayhem and madness merely to share...a smile.
As it is impossible to thank them in person, not knowing who they are being the first, but not only, obstacle to that task, we Grates salute them as a group.
They are the Creators of Laughter, and those who pass their attachments along are their Cohorts.
We salute both because a smile unshared is a sinful waste. And that’s what these humorous creations are: virtual smiles.
Far from frowning when we see an email from an efriend known to pass along such friendly stuff, we Grates pounce on it, a grin already breaking out on our solemn faces.
SOS honors the Creators, those who spend their time, their lives and their skills to collect and create infectious humor from jokes, quips, cartoons, photographs, printed passages, bloopers, practical jokes and other such smile-making materials. We honor them, wish them a hearty Hear! Hear! and Long Life! and hope, selfishly, that they live long and prosper so they can continue to produce Smiles for the rest of us.
Be it Known that SOS knows and is sympathetic to, those folks who do not want to smile. They belong to the informal and as-yet unformed Society of Grouches (SOG), known as Ingrates. That they are unable to appreciate the innocent joy of a shared smile or allow themselves to lift their hearts with the pleasure of a perfect punny story is difficult to understand but most certainly honored as their choice of bedding. With no rancor or ill feeling at all, we Grates salute the Ingrates and wish them well.
Also Let It Be Known that SOS is to honor those who make and forward funny and entertaining facts and figures. It does not openly condemn forwards so aptly labeled by the Beatitudinous Barbara of Snopes.com fame as Glurge: those warning of horrendous calamity if not forwarded to everyone you know in ten nanoseconds, of computer viri that will emerge from your hard drive, send your personal info to evildoers who will then own you and then eat your computer, that promise to save dying children or hand out free computers if you send them to every eaddress you have, tearjerkers, moral lessons and impossibly syrupy coincidences. SOS does not include Glurge makers on their Grateful list. Let them make their own, with sparkles.
The sole duty of a Grate is to weed. Assiduously. Ruthlessly. To forward only the finest mirth-producing, belly laughing guffaws. We pledge to pass on only giggles and groans.
We the undersigned are proud members of the Royal, Exalted, Grand and Glorious Order of the Society of Smilers, and proud to be known as Grates. We will aid and abet the Creators by circulating around the Net, the Globe, and the Human Race, those anonymous, amazing Smiles solely for the purpose of lifting the lips, the spirits and the soul, if only for an instant, of whomsoever sees them.

Amen and That’s All She Wrote

Sliding on the Ice