20 July 2006

Lack of Sarcasm

When the President first proposed then signed the No Child Left Behind Act, I thought okay - I'll see what all it entails. Now some years later I can easily say it has completely failed. How so?

It has failed to give our young people an adequate sense and appreciation of sarcasm/dry humor. Ironic, indeed, seeing that the president is such a smart aleck.

One example: the other day the wife bought two outfits for #3: a boy's and a girl's at Target, but then she found two more outfits, on sale, at Children's Place that she liked better, so she bought them too. I was assigned to take back the Target outfits. So I went to the register with the outfits.
The kid asked: anything wrong with them?
Yeah. They're too small for me. I said.

Nothing. Not even a small crack of a smile, he didnt get it.

Example Two: I went to the local meat shop to pick up some perceives. While I was checking out I noticed a yellow legal pad cut in two. The cut was made by an errant paper cutter, so the cut kind of zig-zagged a bit. I asked the girl behind the register if they sent the pads out for a custom cut. Oh no, she says, someone here did that.

Again no detection of my sarcasm.

At least two kids left behind.

Even adults dont get it sometimes.

On April 1st the church had a concert. I went forward with my violin told a long story about the instrument then announced that this would be my first public performance. Everyone readied themselves, a lady even took a picture, I stroked an awful chord. Instead of raucous laughter some almost cried feeling sorry for me. I had to announce April Fools!

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