Poking fun at others

Is it wrong to get a laugh if it is at the expense of another? I used to think so. But after submitting a humorous poem to a literary magazine about a man I knew (and getting an immediate response), I have no reservations. At least not about this incident which happened more than three decades ago at a restaurant. At the time, I laughed so hard and long, I could not order my meal. My back was to the window. He kept asking me to shift this way and that. He said some weirdo was standing outside making faces at him. When he said, "Look at his eyes! He's a nut, you'll see!" I turned around and saw him: the guy sitting across from me hexing his own reflection on a sun drenched pane of glass.

Maybe I should have written about the explosion. Last week while Bill was repairing our shower plumbing, he rigged a temporary shower in the basement. He hooked a short section of garden hose to the basement sink, and he added a shower head. I turned that hot water full blast, stepped inside the plastic drop cloth "stall", soaped up and KABOOM! that hose burst and shot me full force in the face. I screamed, blinded by soap, frightened by the sheer force of the blow, backed up and got tangled in that flimsy drop cloth which clung to my naked, wet body like Saran Wrap. Bill said he heard the kaboom, but he was indisposed at the moment, and he figured the shower head had fallen to the floor. HA! He is still laughing about the incident. Well, if laughter soothes the soul, I guess it's okay to poke fun at others, as long as it's not malicious.