Re: Schadenfreude

From: David Alan Beck (dabeck@IUPUI.EDU)
Date: Mon Sep 17 2001 - 18:46:34 EDT


I would add that, in my reading of Percy, the very fact that it takes
some crisis to awaken us is a sign of how alienated we are. Camaraderie
(and the possibility of intersubjectivity) is the positive effect. Of
course, the crisis breaks us out of our everydayness. If it takes
something bad to make us feel good, then maybe we realize that something
is wrong, and the search begins.

It is interesting how all of our diversions in the entertainment industry
came to a halt, allowing perhaps a moment or two of sobriety and
reflection. And while I think that much more is to come, I predict that
the entertainment "dance" will be in full swing by the end of the week.

(I remember on the day of the tragedy, waking up and turning on the
morning news and the lead story was of Michael Jordan's return. I rolled
my eyes and turned it off. Amazing what a few hours of reality will do to
put things in perspective. I remember when he came back last time, his
first game was here in Indy and the morning headlines read: The Second
Coming!--a headline that received much deserved criticism.)

I'm not trying to put a positive spin on this tragedy. But maybe Percy was
right. If nothing else, it made the foolishness that is fed to us in our
everyday lives look even more foolish and maybe gave some of us a wake up
call, allowing us to see how shallow most our interests are.

David Beck

"The only true joy on earth is to escape from the
prison of our false self, and enter by love into union
with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of
every creature and in the core of our own souls."

                                -Thomas Merton



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