Schadenfreude...

is a German term meaning "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune". I find it a very interesting concept and I expect there are people who regularly take pleasure from the misfortunes of others. I can almost understand it in the case of someone who has hurt you getting their perceived come-uppance.

Yes, I have a reason for this musing. Someone who used to be a good friend and then went off the rails a bit (a lot actually) has had a bit of misfortune. They caused a lot of grief to myself and Graeme and I expect it would be almost justified to feel some kind of satisfaction over their recent failure.

However, I don't know that I do. I feel more sad for them. I'm sad that they haven't grown up enough over the last few years to stop making the same mistakes time and time again. I'm sad that they feel the world is responsible for their problems when really they could do a lot more to help themselves.

Maybe I'm just too soft?!