Sure, there are times when it is considered inappropriate to laugh, but if we're honest, we'll see that if we're suppressing a smile it's a sign that we're fully present.

Not only that, but these are times when we could most use a little laughter to bring levity to an overly-serious situation. The best business meetings--and funerals--I've ever attended included plenty of bust-a-gut moments.

Years ago, during a two-week silent meditation retreat, I got giggles. Oh, I know, you're supposed to be *serious* about meditating for five hours straight, but I couldn't help it.

It all started when I was roused from my peaceful posture by a certain "KLUNK!" from across room. I opened my eyes to see that one of my retreat buddies had fallen asleep and landed with his head against wall. Momentarily unnerved, he quickly straightened up, closed his eyes and put on his best meditator's face.

I, on other hand, completely lost it.

I managed to stifle first few giggles, but then they started escaping in little bursts. I tried ol' coughing technique, hoping to disguise my snorts as expectoration, but I wasn't fooling anyone.

My long established hobby has earned me a membership in POP (People Observing People) Culture. The rules specify that each member must swear not to divulge anything observed.

Being a minister, I'm not allowed to swear, so I am exempted from this rule.

I love to get a nice hot cup of coffee, a local newspaper and situate myself where I can see most people in their natural environment. Nothing is more hilarious than observing people who don't realize they are being watched.

Don't get me wrong here, I love people. All sorts of people. I would never unduly make fun of anyone — well almost anyone. Everybody has something about him or her interesting and worth observing.

One of my favorite authors, F. W. Boreham, made this observation: Leave your house early in morning and first person you meet take him or her aside and write their biography. Of course, person will not conceive anything interesting about his or her life, and that's way most people are. We think everybody else is more interesting than our life.

The average person, in my opinion, leads a more interesting life than almost all celebrities, except for Elvis who is more popular dead than alive.

As an expert in POP Culture, most interesting thing about people can be summed up in one word: mistakes.

Mistakes are common characteristics of all those addicted to oxygen. Other similarities exist among people, but this one thing supercedes culture, time, age and gender. Everybody at some time to some degree makes mistakes.

Two kinds of people populate our planet: those who admit their mistakes and those who don't.

Now, a mistake is not just a mistake. There are categories and degrees of mistakes. Let me list a few categories and see which one fits into your lifestyle.

The first category would be, inaccuracies. It is easy to get something wrong when dealing with numbers, especially dialing telephone numbers. Not long ago my wife, who works as my secretary, dialed a number for me. I can't remember now who we were trying to call, but I do remember who we really got.

My wife dialed number and as soon as it started to ring, she handed phone to me. When I put receiver to my ear, I heard a sultry voice invite me to do things I had never considered before in my life.