for the love of sarcasm

Happy Yom Kippur and a blessed National Sarcasm Day to you. It's interesting to me that today people are celebrating both holidays. Blessing and cursing all in one day. That sounds like my life. I'll be honest, I've never observed Yom Kippur, but I'm sure I have relatives somewhere celebrating right now. As for National Sarcasm Day, I celebrate that every day. I find sarcasm as natural and as essential as breathing. Without either, I would cease to be me, although one would clearly take a greater toll on me. It'd be a tragedy either way, so I'll keep doing both on a daily basis.

Maybe I've mentioned this on my blog before (I'm too lazy to research), but my delicious brand of sarcasm wasn't necessarily a welcomed entity in the south. Many people took me (and themselves) too seriously at our church down there, and so when I would say something sarcastically (in conversation or while preaching), some people would get offended. Now, had I said "just kidding" at the end of the joke, I would have been off the hook. It's like insulting someone and adding, "bless his/her heart" or "God love 'em," and feeling like you did nothing wrong. To many of them, sarcasm is saying something that's not true and quickly tagging "just kidding" at the end before you had time to process the information. That's not sarcasm. That's telling a joke. I don't tell jokes. I say stupid things that amuse me, and sometimes others, and I let you sort out whether I'm being serious or not. You see, I give people credit for being intelligent individuals - no doubt a stretch for some - and I believe that using your brain, you can deduce whether or not I'm being serious. So I may be joking, but I will never tell you that I'm just kidding as a form of explanation to you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. So, please, for the love of sarcasm, stop saying just kidding every time you say something that's supposed to be a joke. Give it a try. It will make you feel better.

Happy Sarcasm Day. It's my favorite holiday of the year. Just kidding.