There is so much to be worried about or even to be angry with in the world today. But it is also true that we sometimes get caught up in taking ourselves too seriously, whether that be individually, or at the national level.

The great satirists of literary history, Aristophanes, Chaucer, and others, knew that humor is the best way to get us to look at ourselves and to see the foolishness we so often get caught up in. The ability to laugh at ourselves is both healthy and empowering. Here is the paradoxical irony we often miss and that humor helps us to see; humility is our greatest strength, and excessive pride is our greatest weakness.

Photo: Facebook/U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Southwest

This video is a fun little piece of self-deprecating humor put together by the United States Coast Guard. Coasties have long been the butt of jokes for the other services. They know the jokes, but they have developed, as the video says, a very thick skin and almost revel in the attention. But, if truth be told, that position just might be taken over by the newest of the services, the United States Space Force.

The services have always shared a brotherly sense of humorous banter and boisterous jocularity in reference to one another. It comes from service pride of course. All of us who have served know it and have participated in the jokes. And all of us understand the humor; while it is often prickly, it is also a recognition of the brotherhood that all who serve, or who have served, share. We are all in it together, and we all bring particular missions and skills to the united effort to serve, protect, and defend our country.

Photo: Facebook/U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Southwest

Over the years of writing that I have done with and for the Veterans Site, I have come to have a real respect for the United States Coast Guard. While they don't get the headlines, they have been in every battle in every war, fighting alongside their U.S. Navy partners, bringing the fight to the enemy in a variety of ways. What they do on a daily basis is essential for the safety and security of this country, and they do it with skill, dedication, honor, and valor, whether it be saving boaters at sea or interdicting drug smugglers or sailing alongside the Navy fleets around the world.

Enjoy this brief bit of humor produced by the United States Coast Guard. It is a light-hearted, self-deprecating look at the humorous takes that others have pointed at them over the years. Ya gotta love the United States Coast Guard. Semper Paratus, Coasties! Thank you for all you do on our behalf.