Letters to a Young Contrarian: Chapters 16 and 17

            Chapter 16 of Letters to a Young Contrarian begins to discuss the topic and different types of humor.  I was very intrigued when first reading this, because I wondered if Christopher Hitchens, the dissident of all dissidents, viewed humor in the same way that I or someone of average society does.  It turned out that we had a lot in common on the subject.  The main view being that "..there is a relationship between intelligence and humor."  I couldn't have agreed more with the author upon reading this.  I have always found the funniest people in my life to be some of the wisest and to have the most common sense, all while being book smart as well.  In order to deliver and understand humor, you must be well educated on current events and on different kinds of people, and you must be able to read situations well as to see where what jokes are appropriate.  This brings me to the next statement of the chapter with which I agreed.  Hitchens writes, "He was witty enough to know when to keep quiet, which many comedians are not."  There are often people in our lives that may be funny, but simply do not know when enough is enough.  Humor is something that can have a limit, and should, because less is often more.  This once again proves the main point that one must be wise and aware as well as intelligent in order to be humorous.  
              As Chapter 17 begins, it is somewhat related back to the topic of wit and humor, but soon transforms into a discussion of sticking up for what you believe in.  The author writes, "Have no fear of being thought a monomaniac."  By this he means that if you believe in something and want to stand up for it, then you must fully commit to it.  You should not care if people become tired with your preaching, or if they label you "obsessed," because it only shows that they have been too weak to stand up for their own causes.  Hitchens ends the chapter with a truly beautiful piece of advice, one that I hope to remember, by writing, "The great reward, if that's the right word, lies in the people you will meet when engaged in the same work, the lessons you will learn, and the confidence you will acquire from having some experiences and convictions of your own, to set against the received or thirdhand opinions of so many others."  I cannot even begin to describe how much this means to me, because it is something that I have experienced, yet also something that I often forget.  It is very true that the causes you fight for or the values you hold truly become worth when you are with others that believe the same way.  You grow an incredible deal from experiences like these, and you then have what it takes to go back into a world full of opinions different than your own, and still stand strong.