Irony

When I was very young, I used to listen to albums from Broadway musicals, one of my favorite being Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion. When I became exhausted from erratically singing and dancing to "I Could Have Danced All Night", I'd sit and stare at the album cover. It was a brilliant, simple caricature by Al Hirschfeld. In it, George Bernard Shaw was portrayed as God, holding marionette strings that controlled puppet versions of Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. I don't know how many hours I spent studying the drawing, but somewhere along the way, my childhood visual image of God was identical to George Bernard Shaw.

I doubt I thought about it very much. At some point, I realized that God was much more than a large white-haired, bearded man who lived beyond some celestial staircase. I was a senior in high school, relishing my English Literature class, when I turned the page in my textbook and gasped. There was a photograph of...God. At least, looking identical to my childhood image of him. My cheeks began to feel warm as I read the name, George Bernard Shaw. Shortly into his biography were the words, "...noted atheist." What!?!?! Okay, fine, even if he wasn't God, did he have to be an atheist? I suppose that was my first, fully-realized experience with irony.

I love irony. I love verbal irony ("The literary genius of USA Today..."), historic irony ("World War I, also known as the War To End All Wars,..."), ironic names ("Paging Dr. Slaughter!") and everything written by O. Henry. I love irony in the news, one of the best recent examples being a sign at BP stations, stating, "You are responsible for spills".

And, ironically, George Bernard Shaw was a master of the literary techinique. As was his peer, Oscar Wilde. As were many writers in their circle, which makes me think their conversations would have been dizzying. Yet, one of my favorite Shaw quotes is not at all ironic. It's plain and clear and, I believe, true:

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

Well said.