We're odd people aren't we? The fact that we have irony as a form of communication in and of itself so much so that we gave it a name and a definition seems a little off to me. But alas, we find ourselves in the pools of irony daily,
Personally my favorite was Alanis Morissette's song, "Isn't it Ironic?" from the beautiful 90's. Not a single bit of the song was ironic, it was simply poor planning and poor outcomes. People would consider it more bad luck than irony. She has stated in recent months that she will be releasing an updated version of the song. Regardless, the irony of the song is that none of it is ironic. Recently I had the pleasure of reading a quick story on Facebook that a man from church had shared.The story goes as this- A man had taken his father to the bank. They were in line for about an hour. The son was losing patience while is father was quite content. The man had asked his dad to join online banking. He could shop online. He could make the simple deposit online. An hour of their day would have been saved. The father chose otherwise. During their hour in the bank, he ran into friends and caught up, had conversations with personnel of the bank that have gotten to know him, and had an hour outside of the house. He was forced to get up and get ready for just a simple task. As he was growing older, he found it necessary to stay in contact with people. His wife had fallen while walking and a passerby drove her home, because they knew each other. The old man gave his son the mindset that technology is not everything. Honestly, I was struck by the irony that the story of putting away technology is on a social network. However, it made me think of all the other things we do that don't match up with what we say. According to dear old Webster, irony is the use of words to express the opposite of what one really means or the incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result. I feel like according to this our lives are constant irony. We are constantly speaking the opposite of what we mean- or are we? In the medical world especially we find continual irony. People change their diets, fitness habits, health ideas only to find that they are not changed like they thought they would be. I for one take a medication that helps me feel better in the neurological sense and eases pain within my body, thus making it easier to exercise back at a level I once was. Too bad the medicine has made my body hold onto weight thus making me need to exercise even harder and losing some of the effects of the medicine - sick cycle. I watch people starve themselves to make themselves healthier. Or they get on crazy diets to be healthier, but in essence they are looking for a special number on the scale, not health. Or in a different direction, we want to raise respectful, kind children, but then give them nothing to respect in us. Or they watch us act disrespectfully and unkind showing them we don't stand by what we say. Perhaps a lot of what we do isn't irony but just being crappy people. Maybe it's just our constant desire for better without knowledge and wisdom to follow through with permanent changes. Either way, I have forced you to finish reading a blog on irony that may not have given fully thought out ideas on irony itself. How...ironic.
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May 2023
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