Monday, July 25, 2005

Swearing Off Irony

Here's a Mid-Year's Resolution. I'm going to cut back on ironic, sardonic comments in my daily-life conversations. I've come to feel that that oblique kind of chat, is hindering my fully feeling and expressing my real reactions. That can't be good for my writing.

So I'm going to try an experiment with full-time sincerity--not total disclosure, of course, but just being direct about what I do say. Maybe, too, it will prevent the misunderstandings that sometimes occur when I cleverly say the opposite of what I mean.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an interesting resolution! I never really thought about it but I like the point you make... that being ironic too much of the time could dull your real thoughts and feelings. Loved meeting you at R la P!

Anonymous said...

Turning 60 is a liberation. The drive towards authenticity becomes less a life search and more the reality of the moment. There is a risk of sorts in being your own persona, like making those justice statements that don't rub well with your neighbor's or claiming out loud the wisdom of goddesses, knowing you will get that look. Placing the truth as you know it out on the table comes from the center of your being and its shape is not the same as a s(word) - a word intented to pierce another.

Anonymous said...

Good point about not "piercing another" with one's in-the-moment authenticity. I find that I tiptoe a bit too much in the hopes of avoiding doing that. And, then, as it happens, I'll unintentionally let loose with THE WRONG THING. Maybe there's a connection.

Anonymous said...

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Scott