The man in the irony mask

The ironic attitude is easy to come by and is practically de rigeur for youth. As we get older, it becomes more of a luxury. Detachment is less of an option. Even when those of us wearing a little more age indulge in rampant ironizing, we know deep down that we are kidding ourselves. We can't easily separate ourselves from others. We can't lightly condemn another's foibles and overlook our own. Or, if we are politic enough to leaven our observations with self-irony, we compound the problem by separating ourselves from ourselves. We are quantumly complicit whenever we involve ourselves in an act of perception and judgment. We commit the original sin whenever we put on the mask of irony. And yet, life is intolerable without it.