What are you trying to say?

Part of this weeks lessons were on communication. I thought it was highly fascinating that only like 14% of the things we communicate are the words we say. The rest of communication is left up to interpretation of tone and nonverbal things like body language. I never realized how true this was. As I think about it, I can say just about anything with a smile on my face being light-hearted and people would interpret that as being cheerful even if what I'm saying is incredibly depressing. I think this is why I've gotten in so much trouble with sarcasm. Naturally, my family is very happy and we usually don't have major problems or contention so it is easy for us to be sarcastic and joke around with each other but I've learned that not everyone is that way... It takes me by surprise every single time someone misunderstands my sarcasm with a serious comment. I think it surprises me because things that I say sarcastically, I would never say honestly. I now understand why the brethren have warned against sarcasm and to watch what we say very carefully.