Reject Schadenfreude

Reject Schadenfreude. Despise it for the cancer that it is.

Oh trust me, I understand its allure. I’ve felt that ecstasy that can only be found in the swift vengeance of karma. I know that pleasant, tingling smile that I feel when I see a jerk on the road get pulled over. I’ve tasted that drug and delighted in its high. But I say no more. Withdrawal be damned.

Schadenfreude is a plague and deep down, you know it. It causes you to feel smug and better than the world, entitled, judgmental. Schadenfreude is destructive. It doesn’t bless, it doesn’t create, it doesn’t give. All it does is take. It is selfish. Schadenfreude is rot for the soul.

Worse yet, Schadenfreude is dull and unsatisfying. After a brief rush, it always leaves you wanting more. Soon you will be jonesing to score more Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is the gateway drug to sadism and sociopathy. But you’re better than that, aren’t you? You won’t get addicted to Schadenfreude. You have self-control. Sure, tell yourself what you need to hear to sleep at night.

Choose the antithesis of Schadenfreude. In Pali they call it mudita, pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being. Like an infectious smile, noticing joy in others plants joy in yourself. And when others see your smile, and your joy, watch them spread that joy to others. Now that is an addiction worth having. Mudita is a nice little gateway, but when you’re ready, why don’t you graduate to something even better? Don’t just appreciate the well-being of others, seek it. Work for the well-being of others, even when it requires the sacrifice of yourself. Value others above yourself. Selflessness is quite the paradoxical drug. The greatest high you could ever feel comes from going quite low. By becoming less, you become so much more. Every drug has a tremendous high, only to be followed by a painful crash. But not this one. Selflessness offers that peace which doesn’t make any sense. It is better than any high because it persists even through every low. This is the peace by which heroes have slain monsters, within and without.

Monsters Are Real

As children we fear monsters under the bed, and our parents reassure us that there are no monsters. Oh if only this were true. Monsters are all too real, and far too common. Only they don’t live under beds. They live in the hearts and minds of men. There are monsters ordering genocide. There are monsters cheering the deaths of their ethnic rivals in the streets. There are monsters killing innocent people for pleasure. There are monsters inflicting the wrath of online mob rule upon their political enemies through doxxing. And there is even a little monster living deep inside your heart and mine. The monster’s favorite snack is Schadenfreude. Please, don’t feed the monsters.