Comments · 12 February 2022
“I never comment. Nope.”
At least one of my cousins reads my blog. At least on occasion. I know this because he left a comment. “I never comment. Nope.” Which is of course, not the truth. As soon as you say never, you just need one instance to contradict the statement to make it false. Which means that a comment saying you never comment is an untruth right from the beginning. It is irony. And the obvious contradiction of irony makes it funny. But even though I am not funny, I do like funny.
I do love irony. The thought that you can convey your meaning better by saying the opposite of what you really mean is fascinating. It is amazing to think that people can do it with such skill and aplomb. I suppose that there are times when we all do it. When we all use irony. I just know that I am not very good at it.
One of the ways I see people (including myself) use irony is in being humble after receiving a compliment. We have all heard others demure when given a compliment. (I would like to think that I do not do this very often, but…) Instead of just saying, “Thank you,” or even, “Aw, shucks,” we say, “Oh, it’s not very good,” or “I’m just a hack,” or “Anybody could have done it.” It does not matter a bit what “it” was. But we all know that those words just mean, “Even though I said not to do so, just keep showering me with praise.” Okay. Not for everybody. But we all know people with that false modesty. They are good at stuff, they know it, and they want people to recognize it, but they say they do not.
Somebody pointed out this false modesty approach to me long ago and I have tried to stay away from those sorts of words. I just try to say thank you when people give me compliments. Which is not often mind you. Besides, I have enough relatives and friends giving me offhanded compliments to keep me humble forever. (Which is a completely different story.)
At any rate.
Where was I?
Oh yes. Comments. I love to read comments that people post on my blog or on my social media. They are uplifting and help me remember that there really are people out there who actually do read my stuff. Even when it often seems that the internet is a deep canyon that just echoes back my words with no hint of having been heard, rather read.
My cousin may not remember his comment about not commenting, but it made my day when I read it. For even though he made a contradictory statement in his comment, that same comment told me that he read something I wrote. And he felt compelled enough to break his silence.
So to my cousin, I comment back, “Thank you for never commenting.”
© 2022 Michael T. Miyoshi
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I don’t believe this was me, but it sounds like something I would intentionally do at some point or another.
As we get older, I appreciate more the things that people do and stick to—I may have a lot of thoughts, but I sometimes lack in action. I admire that you regularly write/blog, because the more you do the easier it becomes to keep doing it. Those are the kinds of journeys I need to start undertaking.
— Dale Tanigawa · 10 February 2022, 10:13 ·