A Not So Wonderful Life

I often try to find the bright side of things, but life does suck sometimes. Which is why relentlessly chirpy people irritate me. I say there's nothing wrong with wallowing in ennui and angst once in a while, if only to remind us that we're alive and breathing and human.

The French certainly do, and with the site Vie De Merde (translation: Life is Sh**) shamelessly celebrate misery with a veritable parade of personal injustices that people air out in public:

"I got two text messages from my girlfriend. In the first she said it was all over. In the second, that she had sent the message to the wrong person. Life is sh**."

"Today, after a long series of tests, I found out I am infertile. My wife is pregnant with our second child. I think I need to ask a few questions. Life is sh**."

"I'm 45 years old and still a virgin. Life is sh**."

Ouch. Consider it the flip side of the Gratitude Journal.

What's also interesting are the number of readers' comments on these revelations of personal pain, some openly gloating in its schadenfreude. It sounds cruel, but misery shared no longer seems so miserable, not only for the writer who gets to lighten his load by unburdening it on others, but also for the reader who's relieved in knowing that no matter how bad things get, there's always someone who gets it worse.

Label(s): Thoughts
Technorati Tags: schadenfreude, vie de merde, misery, misfortune

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