Schadenfreude

A Poem by write_or_wrong

(It's one of those German words that we wish we had)

Schadenfreude: ‘SH ah den froid uh’ (noun) “Pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.”

I often hope I’m alive to witness the abrupt and irreversible downfall of humanity. We’ve been on a slippery slope for a while, but I can feel that it’s coming soon now. We can all feel it. Down, down, down we go-- ever closer to the pits of hell. And we all know that we deserve whatever happens to us. We know that we’re an incorrigible species, marked by intelligence and blinded by stupidity. Deep down, we all know that there’s nothing good about mankind as a whole. We know we’re destructive and violent; we’re selfish and incautious. Really…for the good of the World, we should probably pack our bags. And, why not? We’ve already dug our own graves.

Let me stop you for a second and ask you question:

Do you think that your descendants will observe our time historically or anthropologically?

1.History: “The study of a connected series of past events.” You’ll have children and they’ll be indoctrinated into the same education you had. History books will get longer as we live to tell the tales, ignoring it as it blatantly repeats itself.

2.Anthropology: “The study of humankind and the long-term development of the human organism.” They’ll dig up our bones one day, wondering what vast technologies must have been available to build the empires visible in our ruins and remains. They’ll study our culture and make conjectures of what we must have been like.

(My money is on the second option.)

I mean, I suppose… I suppose it’s possible that we have enough time to turn it around, but I don’t believe that we ever will. We’re stuck in this cycle of destruction, realization, and selfish cost-benefit analysis.

We know. We’re ruining. Everything.

We know that the world cannot exist like this forever and, yet, we keep doing it. We keep buying and driving and killing and ruining and--

Sorry to interrupt again, but I’m willing to bet you think I’m being dramatic. Let me ask you a second question:

What have you done today that has been beneficial to the world around you?

How ‘bout a third question. What have you done today that has been detrimental to the world around you?

Fourth question: Which list is longer?

Five. How does that make you feel?

Six. Do you feel bad? Like really, really feel bad? Like, you’re gonna make a change, feel bad? Gonna do better, feel bad? Or just, like… kinda feel bad and hope it changes for you, because you don’t actually wanna put any effort into it?

-- acting as if the responsibility falls on someone else’s shoulders.

We are so immersed in our lives, our habits, our Selves and we forget that’s not what any of this is about.

It’s not. About. Us.

It’s not about sustainability for the future of mankind. It’s not about this “Go Green” bullshit, worrying about what happens if our kids don’t have clean air.

It’s about the world, not the people in it. This world is so f*****g powerless and it’s at the mercy of our selfishness. And we all keep hoping that someone else will make the change. Which is why my money’s still on the second option-- the abrupt and irreversible downfall of humanity.

And, if you’re shaking your head calling me a pessimist, know that I am not. In fact, in a strangely selfish way, the grandiosity of the whole scenario brings a joyful tear to my eye. It’s like global Schadenfreude and I get antsy just thinkin’ about it. Something about really watching the world burn- something about seeing it and being witness to the end of something so grand- just seems sort of… I don’t know, beautiful.

My only hope is that, when we finally do go, we don’t take the whole world with us.