Schadenfreude

I learned my first lasting lesson about Schadenfreude in 1992 from my dad--although I didn't learn the German word until much later.
Anybody who knows me for more than oh, say 14 seconds knows that I love baseball. In '92 I was watching the 7th game of the NLCS between the Braves and the Pirates. I don't know why, but I'd been rooting for the Braves for the last couple of years. I think I just liked the way they played the game. Anyway, the Pirates went into the bottom of the 9th with a 2-0 lead and just needed to get three outs and they were in the World Series. On and off during the game, they'd switched back to fans of the Pirates in some sports bar in Pittsburgh. I, of course, felt some sort of rival animosity with these fans, they were rooting for the other team.
The Braves ended up pulling off the miraculous comeback and won the game when the slowest player on the field slid in to homebase. After Sid Bream scored the third run, and the celebration on the field was shown, the network switched to that same sports bar in Pittsburgh. The fans, who'd been ecstatic about 15 minutes earlier, were utterly dejected. I taunted with something brilliant and Nelson-esque, I'm sure. My father turned to me and said, "Vanessa, don't be happy because someone else is hurting."

eesh. I learned my lesson. That moment of Schadenfreude pops into my mind every once in a while.

I think the whole idea that my dad was trying to teach me was to take joy in the good things and good moments in life and to not simply be happy because for a moment you'd beat someone else. Being happy because you're better than/just demeaned someone else will not bring lasting happiness and will never bring joy.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on Schadenfreude, a nice German loan word that is fun to say.