I want to elevate people. Deep down, I really do.
Seinfeld was a comedy that affected a generation.
Everyone finds humor that is sarcastic, demeaning and laced with in-jokes and mutual defamation to be prized and enjoyable. I’m one of them, at least in part.
Since living in the East of Canada, I find less sarcasm in the humor than I’ve found other places on the earth. I find that maritimers tend to laugh less at each other in mockery and more with each other in revelry. Sarcasm literally means “to take flesh.” There seems to be less blood on the floor in our jests, less of each others and less of those not present (be they actors or public figures).
A friend tells me that blending sarcasm, with false enthusiasm, is called “sarcusiasm.” I do that quite well, I’ve noted.
Today, I’m wondering if sarcasm and its single-parent, cynicism, has any place in a redemptive view of the world. From the AIDs crisis in Africa, to how I laugh with my buddy today, I’m thinking that I’d like to become less and less sarcastic, and more and more elevating to be around.
I agree with a friend that cynicism is a gateway drug to all things nasty. Sarcasm seems to me to be its ugly child, who is more fun to be around.
I’m wondering if an innocence of joy is attainable. That’s the way the Church, that believes a story based on broken Imagebearers and redemptive energy in the world, should be.
That’s what I think today.
