A very large part of being a member of the Hash House Harriers almost anywhere in the world is having a really good sense of humor. I would say that a lot of what we do borders on the insane and if it weren't for the fact that it is well known among all members that silliness is to be expected in the Hash, that someone out there would probably think we are insane or even worse, trying to make some sort of political statement. We are neither.
What we are is a group of people, who are mostly older that don't want to be old and dying. Therefore, we take every opportunity to be as whimsical as possible and to keep our humor sharp by constantly making fun of one another and putting people in situations that in other parts of life would be very humiliating.
I think it is good for the soul to not be so serious all the time. Serious is for "real life."
When the boys are allowed to run with the Bunny Hash, almost anywhere in the world that doesn't have some sort of law against it, they are required to wear a dress and if available, some sort of feminine hairdress as well. Nobody is actually making fun of these guys but we do have some laughs at their expense. To this day nobody has ever complained about this because if you are a man going on a Bunny Run, you already know what you are getting yourself into.
This isn't hazing, this isn't an initiation where we make the new people suffer, it is kind of a rite of passage that many consider to be an honor. Once you have had makeup put on you and you wear the ears, you know that you are well and truly one of us.
Even when we aren't putting the men through situations that they probably wouldn't want to end up in a newspaper if they were running for public office, all of our shirts are generally intentionally silly, as are the nicknames that are given to all members around the world.
No one is forced to do this but it is understood that it is part of the process. If someone seriously was super opposed to this or they had some sort of religious reason why they cannot do it, we would never attempt to force them to do it. What ends up happening though is that most people actually look forward to being a spectacle on our runs and events and they actually look forward to it.
Why? Is probably a question that some people are going to ask themselves. Well I think the main reason is that life in general is a very serious affair, especially as you get older. For all of us, we live serious lives with retirement, jobs, family, interactions with the government, and the same stressors that anyone else faces in the world, but for a couple of hours a week we get to just be silly and act like children and I think that is very good for people. Hell, when you were a kid you probably couldn't wait to play dress up and act loony with your friends. We just try to bring a little bit of that into the adult realm and everyone really likes it.
none of us are really cross-dressers and this certainly isn't NOT some sort of political statement at all. I'd like to believe that if someone were to have one of these pictures pop up as some sort of "controversial" statement against them, that they would immediately be able to laugh it off and explain what the Hash House Harriers is actually all about.
We are just about remaining as youthful as possible for as long as possible. For me and many others, this silliness has kept them young feeling longer, and the exercise that we get at our 3 times a week runs certainly helps as well. We don't get dressed up like women at every run, this is just a "punishment" for men attending women-only events.
The rest of the time when we are not at the Hash all of us are busy looking at our finances and worrying about our own mortality and health just like the rest of the world. For me and all other Hashers in the 5000 groups that exist around the planet, this bit of time is just some stress relief where we leave all of our worries behind and just have unabashed fun for a couple of hours. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?
