Chicago’s Mayor Spreads Light-hearted Humor in PSA

They say humor helps people psychologically cope with trauma. That’s why it’s important for us to inject humor into difficult moments—hopefully bringing some semblance of joy to others during this crisis. That’s what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was trying to do with her recent PSA about COVID-19. Her home videos used the often repeated “Stay home. Save lives.” phrase we’ve heard countless times since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic.

 

Lightfoot told the public at a news conference she held on Tuesday, “This is a really intense situation and we all need to find the humor. From humor stems hope.”

 

“I know from my experiences over my life that when you have hope, you can heal,” she continued. “Hope is the thing that gets you up in the morning and propels you over the course of the day and we need that hope, we need to have that sense that even in this dark storm there’s light.”

 

“The overwhelming response [to the video] that we’ve received, like with the response to the memes, means to me that people are hungry for something to hang onto, something that will take their mind off of the stress and fear that I think people are legitimately feeling in this time like no other in our lifetime.”

 

One thing is certain right now—world is going through massive trauma. The human race is trying to weather this storm and it’s hard. We applaud Lightfoot’s lighthearted approach. Hopefully it delivers some hope along the way.