Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble do not let your heart rejoice. Proverbs 24:17 [NIV]
Schadenfreude is a word I learnt only comparatively recently. In case you haven't come across it, it means taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune. It is seen in the gossip- hungry individual who seeks a thrill from the day to day routine. It is purveyed by TV soaps depicting feuding individuals staggering from one crisis to the next. It is even present in the respectable news-junky avidly reading the broadsheets or listening to Radio 4 for the latest disaster.
I wonder if we are quietly being educated by society to expect the continual high. If we can't get it through our work or chosen pursuits, maybe we resort to the pleasure of other people's misery.
In his book “The Wounded Healer”, Henri Nouwen speaks of a dislocation of modern society from the historical, community based lifestyle of centuries past. “Only when man feels himself responsible for the future can he have hope or despair, but when he thinks of himself as the passive victim of an extremely complex technological bureaucracy, his motivation falters....”
Christ comes to bring us peace. We are 'found' in him. Through our daily quiet time we can know His wholeness. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to communicate this to a generation of thrill seekers. Maybe this is one reason the church has struggled to retain members in recent decades.
The thing is I am an occasional thrill seeker too, and do have an interest in the big news stories. Although I don't find joy in others misery, I wonder whether my interest outweighs my compassion in stories of human tragedy?
The difficult question is how to communicate God's love to this generation? Nouwen comments “....Christian leadership is accomplished only through service. This service requires the willingness to enter into a situation, with all the human vulnerabilities a man has to share with his fellow man”.
I guess it is about sharing ourselves, warts and all.
Jon Seaton
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