Sarcasm isn’t always understood when it's used...at least when we think it's being used. The best way to know when someone is being sarcastic is guess and hope you’re right. That plan works up until the day you guess horribly wrong.

Was I being sarcastic with that comment? Maybe...

Imagine you’re wearing a new coat; a brown one with eight zippered pockets. Your friend sees you and says, “Wow….nice jacket.” God knows whether or not he means what he just said, so you guess. You go off yelling about how you don’t care what he thinks and how you love the jacket. You guessed wrong.  Standing up for yourself is always good; except now you just lost a friend over a sincere compliment. The wrath of sarcasm strikes again without actually being present. Ironic...isn't it?

Using sarcasm involves taking a risk. Sometimes it is funny for everyone, but mostly it is just offensive. For those of you who are like me, you take that risk far too often. My humor revolves around the low blows of sarcasm and I use it to the point of catastrophic success.

Unfortunately for me, sarcasm is the plague of interaction, often causing more bad than good. The Ironic bitterness stings the hearts of others in a not so pleasant way. Chances are, your peers are not going to enjoy questioning whether every comment you make is sincere or sarcastic. When you are in a situation like this, you have two choices: stop being sarcastic to come off more sincere, or be so sarcastic that people just believe you are being sincere. I have come to believe that both options work perfectly well.

Despite this negativity, the world needs sarcasm. For the less intelligent, sarcasm acts as a boost, increasing confidence due to a lack of understanding. For those who get it, sarcasm levels the playing field, allowing even the smartest men and women to be made fun of. Sarcasm acts as a leveler, bringing humor where it shouldn't go and then pretending like what was said was serious.

Sarcasm isn't for everyone. In fact, a balance of sarcasm is ideal. For those who are not sarcastic are usually the ones being confused. Sarcasm needs confusion just as intelligence needs stupidity.  One enhances the other.  So to those of you who use sarcasm, keep laughing to yourself. To the rest of the world...good luck.