Did you know that Australian author Peter Carey won the 2001 Booker Prize for "True History of the Kelly Gang" – a work that contained not a single comma? Amazing, huh? Of course, one might wonder why he bothered, but still.
I agree that commas are not condiments and you shouldn't pepper your sentences with them unnecessarily. Even so, a well-placed comma is the difference between “what is this thing called love?” and “what is this thing called, love?” And between “let’s eat, Grandma!” and ... well, you know the rest. (My favourite book on this subject is "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"; I believe an earlier Australian edition was called "Eats, Roots and Leaves".)
A misplaced comma might even be damaging to your health. Compare "Do not administer any liquids which are diuretic" (some liquids are permissible) and "Do not administer any liquids, which are diuretic" (all liquids are forbidden). And don't even get me started on the Oxford comma: "I love my parents, Donald Trump and Angela Merkel." Donald Trump and Angela Merkel are not my parents; a comma after Donald Trump would've made this clear - and, for the record, I don't love either.
What I do love are early mornings on the jetty! Shingles or no shingles, the sun is out and so am I! And I've chosen to reread "The Old Man and the Sea". It's a short book, written in Hemingway's typical sharp and muscular style, which was eventually named the "Iceberg Theory", as it used simple language on the surface with a wealth of meaning hidden below. And it has short sentences with very little need for punctuation.
Still, commas are important people! (please insert a comma as you see fit)
