Sarcasm and its Effects

The other day in Writing 150H, my class and professor had a little discussion about sarcasm. Our professor stated that sarcasm is much more common to our generation than it ever was to hers, even at BYU. She asked us to pay close attention in the days following at how much we hear and/or use sarcasm and write about it. This was one of the trickiest assignments I've ever had. Although I do not consider myself a very sarcastic person (and am, in fact, known as being very likely to miss someone else's sarcasm), I found that I use it so naturally that it's very easy to miss. I only caught myself in the act once over an entire weekend but can think of many additional times in hindsight.

I learned even more about the effects of sarcasm than I did about how much I use it and hear it in daily life. My roommates and I received a visit from a friend the other day that I've known since middle school. Although I was never particularly close to him, I liked and admired him in the first couple years of our acquaintanceship for his cheerful personality, wit, kindness, and genuineness. When he visited us over the weekend, I realized with a pang of sorrow that he is not the same person I met four years ago. Although his basic personality is the same and I still think he's a great guy, I found a certain luster had left him. When I thought about why this would be, my I decided that every change in him for the worse could be linked to his increased use of sarcasm. More than ever in conversation and sometimes in action, he is cynical, derogatory, pessimistic, and insincere, all by-products of sarcasm. My roommates and I agree that his choices in kids to hang out with in high school are probably what got him hooked on being sarcastic. This helped me realize how dangerous sarcasm really is. It can change how comfortable people are around us, what they think of us, our innate characteristics--and even more frighteningly, it can even change these things in the people around us.

Response papers get old

The other day, I was asked for my literature class to write a one-page response on a poem. As much as I admire my professor, critical analysis, and classic poets (especially Browning--he is my favorite), this is a little diddy I wrote after turning in the paper. I am open to both comments and criticism.


God Alone
Professor, wherefore write we trite responses on demand
To Browning that we disregard the moment we get home?
For whether is easier, to factor or expand?
I do not think it blasphemy to write, instead, a poem.

Aren't connections wonderful?

My favorite parts of my learning experience are when I find connections between different subjects and genres. The most recent one came to me in my Honors 201 class, which is entitled, "The Biblical Tradition in Western Civilization." As you would expect, we have been dealing heavily with the Bible and have participated in several riveting discussions from an "outsider's" point of view. Today we were discussing Joshua 24, in which Joshua leads the Isrealites in a promise to serve the Lord. Professor Benfell taught us that this ceremony is called a "covenant service" and has been studied by many scholars. He pointed out that covenant services occur many more times in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and other books, and that each of them had a general format. He gave us an example of this format taken from Bernhard W. Anderson's Understanding the Old Testament (ask me if you'd like the full citation). I recorded this format in my own words for my own use:

1. Preamble with "Thus saith the Lord" or similar wording
2. Historical prologue ("What he did for our fathers")
3. Particulars of the covenant
4. Recording of the covenant
5. People become "witnesses against themselves" (oaths like "As I live")
6. Listing of promised divine blessings or curses

After writing this down, I was reminded of some annotations I made on the subject of my last post, Elder Eyring's "A Child of God." I underlined and circled some things in the final paragraphs and then wrote:

Good priesthod leaders finish their messages the same way:

• Calling you on feeling the Spirit
• Challenging you to act on his or the Spirit's words
• Promising blessings if you do
• Bearing testimony

When I compared these two lists, I was fascinated to find how similar they were. I found a connection to all of the numbers on my first list:

1: You hear the words of the Lord through the Spirit; a prompting is equal to a "Thus saith the Lord"
2: Stories from the talk of ways Elder Eyring's words helped people and his testimony
3: The major points in Elder Eyring's talk
4: Elder Eyring's talk in general
5: Elder Eyring calling us on feeling the Spirit and challenging us to try it ourselves
6: Promising blessings if we do

In short, I realized that Elder Eyring's talk was his attempt to lead us in making a covenant with the Lord. And then I read my note, "Good priesthood leaders finish their messages the same way" and saw the bigger picture: every address from a worthy spiritual leader is a covenant service. They all follow the same basic pattern, have the same purpose, and yield the same results if taken advantage of. Isn't that so cool?! Maybe I'm just a nut, but I found it amazing.

Response to "A Child of God" by Henry B. Eyring

I was excited to read this talk from the beginning because Elder Eyring is who you might call my favorite general authority. I met him when he came to reorganize my stake presidency a few years ago and love to listen to him speak. This talk was no different. I could tell right away that he has a great talent for rhetoric because he began his talk with both flattery and a short story, both guaranteed to engage any audience. His writing is full of patterns (as is mine, I like to think). When he gets to listing the qualities of a great learner, the layout is evident: the characteristic, academic examples, spiritual examples, and doctrine. He also used similar wording, such as calling these characteristics "natural" to LDS people three different times. Most importantly, I was excited to see the same pattern for closing that so many other great men use: calling you on feeling the Spirit, challening you to follow it, bearing testimony, and promising blessings. As a speaker, President Eyring is both intellectual and persuasive, a combination that attracts many learners, including myself.