Falling Under Friendly Fire...

"Why I endure under force majeure slander without shame or tact
I who studied make-up, mime and Buddha who taught two generations to react
About me the critics lied I ignored them and survived
in spite of coming under friendly fire
shot in the fatal cause of rock-and-roll
I have nothing, really nothing, to deny"

-from Friendly Fire, The Pet Shop Boys

One thing in life is certain: the things you say to someone will often come back to haunt you.

Or eventually be thrown back in your face.

We all feel the need to vent out frustrations and disagreements. Most of us have our ways: talking to close friends, working out, even blogging. I've always been more of a writer, so I prefer to disperse any grievances through words. Be them emails or long, drawn-out journal entries, I find the most therapeutic (and humorous) way to express my inner bitchiness.

Occasionally, people will tell me "be careful what you write... you never know who may be looking". So what? If I write something in a message to someone or in a journal, odds are I don't care who reads it. I'm not out to be the most politically correct person who ever walked the earth. I spent too long trying to please anyone around me... tip-toeing around my words as not to offend or upset.

In reality, people become offended and upset no matter what. There is no way of expressing your view without someone feeling insulted, degraded, misunderstood, or worried. Everyone interprets things differently. What I may find to be laughable, others may think is dead serious. Guess what, people? Life isn't that serious. Life is funny. People are funny (and often more amusing than apes eating their own feces, though amusing in the same manner).

I find much reason to laugh at life and people. Of course, in all fairness, I laugh and poke fun at myself just as much. We are all funny creatures... and often the more serious we try to play ourselves to be, the more humorous we appear.

The difference between my "humor" and some comments made by unassuming people? My jibes are all meant in playful fun. I'm not out to personally attack someone. I mean what I say and say what I mean. If I think something is foolishness or absurd, I'll play that up to the utmost level. I may appear to personally attack someone from time to time, but I merely add a little whimsy to the caricature they paint of themselves.

I don't go for the throat. I don't speak of unfamiliar matters. I don't degrade someone for having a differing opinion. I know and understand humbleness and humility. I accept the world for what it is.

Still, I've found myself the target of many snarky, arrogant, and degrading remarks and comments many times. Words intended to belittle and insult. Sometimes from the people who proclaim politeness the strongest. Negative energies from "positive-only" peoples.

I'm human, so yes it will effect me. But I don't allow it to gain a stranglehold over my existence. I vent it out and move on. And often, I simply turn it into a funny, witty anecdote.

After all, most people are far more humorous than they realize.