Why you need to rethink Sarcasm

This summer the Angels told me it was time to give up sarcasm. I balked at this, because I like coming back with a witty stinger when someone says something derogatory to me. I also like to be witty on twitter, where sarcasm dripped from many of my answers. I enjoyed doing this, and didn’t want to change my behavior. It felt cathartic.

I didn’t ask why I should quit being sarcastic, though when I thought about it, I knew. Sarcasm was a lower vibration that was holding me back from manifesting for my highest good. That vibration of sarcasm was also attracting other sarcastic energies, not higher evolved ones. When we start clearing ourselves of bad behavior, we don’t do it all at once. I have worked on cleaning up my act for decades now. I have given up lying, never take advantage of anyone, help the people the angels tell me I have to help, regardless of financial reimbursement.

I already knew about the problem with sarcasm. It is a Trojan horse really. It comes off as a joke, something funny, something to entertain those around. But in reality, there is something mean in much satire. It is a cruel statement wrapped in a candy coating, so that people laugh at something that could be incredibly harsh. I had given up being sarcastic directly to people’s faces, but still could deliver stinging blows on twitter or about what I thought were victimless crimes.

As a child, I was used to adults coming at me with sarcasm. It was the time of children being seen but not heard. My brother would tell a joke at my expense, then criticize me when I didn’t laugh. He would frame it as there was something wrong with ME, not what he was doing. “What’s a matter, you can’t take a joke?” Never once did he consider he had hurt my feelings. That was my problem if my feelings were hurt. (Will be another blog, why you shouldn’t take the things people say personally. When people are addicted to sarcasm, they don’t care how personal the joke, or who they hurt).

Meanwhile, what he had said felt like a gut punch. He would bring up information I didn’t know they knew, make it sound like I couldn’t change, like the problem was me. When I think about it, I know how bad sarcasm can feel to others yet I still do it. I use the excuse that my sarcasm isn’t as deadly precise on something that hurts the way my brothers was. But I don’t really know that to be true, I don’t really know what is a gut punch to another person. My excuse for being sarcastic on twitter is that it is a victimless crime. I don’t really know those people.

Usually when that question was asked to me, I would already be near tears. The question that I didn’t even get the humor of the statement, felt like a slap to the face. But I didn’t have an answer to the question. I would shake my head and tell myself to lighten up. What I didn’t know in those early days is that words have meaning and words create your reality.

Then in my teenage years, I hung out with my older male cousins. They were always the cool kids in the back of the bus, in the back of the room. We were the ones heckling the teachers, not teacher’s pets (though when they weren’t around, I was a teacher’s pet, especially in English class). It was cool to be a “smart Alek” and say outrageous stuff. Sometimes it felt like it was coming off as mean, but I had my brother’s words ringing in my ears, screw them if they can’t take a joke. It became a habit that I carried into adult life. Problem is, you can’t criticize something and be an active part of making it better.

I remember a manager asking me, “Do you have to cut everything down?” Why not help make this a success? I would reply that it would never be a success as long as those losers were running the program. (Boy have I changed. But I did do that). This is another version of opposites. Just like if you judge someone, you can’t love them, if you are heckling someone you aren’t supporting them. You are sticking them with a knife.

I didn’t heed the call to quit being sarcastic right away this summer. Then a few weeks later when I was heckling Merrick Garland about not prosecuting the FG fast enough, it happened. My account went from being labelled satisfactory to being labelled disruptive. I heard the angels say that actions have consequences. My being catty and argumentative had not gone unnoticed. I realized I was just putting off the inevitable. I have learned, though not always right away, that the Angels have my best interests and those of others at heart.

What about you? What habits are you imbibing in that lower your vibration? What are you doing to raise your vibration? (Sincere compliments are a great idea). Remember, the higher your vibration, the more love you put into the world. That happening makes it a better world for all of us.