Have you ever said..."how ironic is that?!"

Irony, from the Greek εἴρων (eiron), is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and seen by an outside audience.
More generally, irony is understood as an aesthetic valuation by an audience, which relies on a sharp discordance between the real and the ideal, and which is variously applied to texts, speech, events, acts, and even fashion. All the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap, between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.

There are different kinds of irony. For example:
▪ Tragic (or dramatic) irony occurs when a character on stage or in a story is ignorant, but the audience watching knows his or her eventual fate, as in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet
▪ Socratic irony takes place when someone pretends to be foolish or ignorant, in order to expose the ignorance of another
▪ Cosmic irony is a sharp incongruity between our expectation of an outcome and what actually occurs.
(wikipedia.com)

Turning from an oblivious situation to the reality of life is the very thing that can harm one’s pride and self esteem. We see through the eyes of what we want to believe and in our tragic state of being we realize we have been taken for a ride. Not only does our pride suffer but also as stated our self-esteem takes a massive blow and we then are drug down the level of the offender. The irony of tragedy is most devastating when it comes from a place least expected. A place of love, trust and extreme confidence is the first it can occur. This is not always true but is the majority of the offense. We can replay the episodes in our minds that have brought us to this point but again we are at a place of handicap. The strength we once gained from someone or something is not there to lean upon anymore. We then are forced to put on a mask and disguise our inner feelings of turmoil and pain. When the fog lifts and the light of day is shown into our situation, we then realize what we were fighting for was all in vain.

Our clever nature is the one that knows the evil we posses and we pretend to be the very thing we are not. Our words become what others want to hear instead of the truth. This action has an ulterior motive behind it. We are using others ignorance to our advantage and willingly setting the trap for them to fail. When used for good, these situations can produce life-changing moments that can set our feet on a new path in life. However, if these tactics are used against us for evil, we are truly in a position of weakness and ignorance. Our life is violated and our weakness then becomes weaker when we fall into the trap.

Our final moments of irony can be summed into our moment of expectation that is broken with a completely different outcome. If our plans for the future are going in one direction then once the time arrives they are not there following us, that cosmic irony can cause a displacement of self in the world around us. This failure to accomplish could very well be something that another has interrupted and caused you not to complete or it could be because of our human nature we have genuinely failed. The moments in life that will make or break us are found in these unexpected ends. With this knowledge in mind, our self- image (much different from our self-esteem) is derived by the things we accomplish in life.

Our fate in life will end up in an ironic situation eventually, we must be prepared for them and act with thought and not with too much emotion. Driven in the heat of passing moments our destiny will always be the outcome of a bad situation. It is as simple as that. A great life philosopher once said, “You’re on the brink of change and elevation when you see the road behind you go up in smoke!” Now that could turn into a whole other topic and I surely could speak on that a while!