The Jester Has Lost His Jingle

The Jester Has Lost His Jingle is a book that was sent to me when I was working at a television station as a health producer. The author of the book is David Saltzman and he wrote the book while attending Yale, and the book was published after he died. He had Hodgkin's disease and died 11 days before his 23rd birthday. This book is about a jester who has lost the ability to make the king in his kingdom laugh, so he sets out with his helper Pharley to find the laughter. He tries and tries to find the laughter but everyone is wrapped up in their own little world, until he finds a little girl in the hospital who says "Here I lie, I have a tumor, and you ask me 'where's your sense of humor?'" He tells her that whenever he feels like crying, he turns his sadness upside down. He encourages her to laugh, and the laughter spreads throughout the land and back to his kingdom. He tells the King:

"We've found where it's been hiding
We've discovered where it's been.
It's hiding inside everyone!
It's buried deep within."

He ends the story with:

So when you're feeling lonely
or sad
or bad
or blue
remember where laughter's hiding...
It's hiding inside
of you!

This is one of my favorite books and I read it quite often, whenever I am feeling sad about something. It was sent to me two months before my mom died and reminds me that laughter doesn't disappear, and its not something you forget how to do. You just need to look deep inside to find it...its always there.