Friday, February 26, 2010

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - PRIDE

Pride is no less present in the one who experiences Schadenfreude than in the proud in whose distress one takes satisfaction.


A Lenten lesson learned from meditating on my response to Dawkins' discomfort.

Mea culpa. Kyrie eleison.

6 comments:

  1. oh yes, but I say take a minute or two to enjoy it anyway, Mimi...

    (thinks about Dawkins' discomfort again. Cackles irritatingly loudly)

    All right, you're probably right.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cathy, my laugh-out-loud reaction was instantaneous, so perhaps my sin was only venial at first, or no sin at all. But then I continued to revel in Dawkins' put-down, so I sinned more seriously.

    What can I say? Lent is a period of reflection, self-examination, repentance, and humility. I reflected, examined, and was moved to take the first step in repentance and admit that pride and Schadenfreude are rather intimately connected. I'm not at the point of full repentance quite yet, for my conscience still pricks. Nor have I achieved the virtue of humility, more's the pity.

    The season of Lent does strange things to me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a good Lent to me. Pride is such a sneaky sin. "Thank God I"m not like......" is where I fall time after time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amelia, it's odd because I've thought that I was not much into the spirit of Lent this year, but it appears that the spirit of Lent is into me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good observation, Mimi. While in London, I had fun engaging with the group about whether sarcasm ought to be an Olympic sport, and that clearly it belongs in the Winter Olympics. Some of the events I suggest:

    The Downhill Snark
    The 200m Freestyle Snide
    Crueling
    Hack Icy
    Speed Satire
    and, of course,
    Synchronized Schadenfreude

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tobias, wonderful! My first belly laugh of the day. Thank you. What pearls appear in my comments!

    Is it possible that klutzy me could have a chance to be on an Olympic team? Let's see. I may try out for the 200m Freestyle Snide, and I'd say the Synchronized Schadenfreude, but I'm not all that good at synchronizing.

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous commenters, please sign a name, any name, to distinguish one anonymous commenter from another. Thank you.