Miles Away

So I am sitting here at my desk working hard when from the window I hear the smashing sound of metal and glass.  Of course I immediately stop what I am doing, go to the window and look to see what’s happened.  Some poor shmo hit a town car and shattered either his or their headlight.  Immediately I grin, laugh and say to the office ‘some idiot just got in a car accident’.

I wonder what is it that makes seeing that situation so humorous to us human beings? (maybe its just an American thing?).  Certenly if it was I who had been in the accident I would be pissed if I saw someone laughing, but as a bystander I just cant help it.  I’m not a evil person (well, maybe just a little) so why did I, why do the majority of us act that way?

I think the reason we get pleasure from seeing others get into accidents, or get hurt is because of how droll our lives are.  I bet a good percentage of us get up everyday and think to ourselves “Time for another sucky day, why cant I spend the day home in my underwear eating pie and playing games?”.  Or something to that extent, our lives (as adults) is mostly nothing but tedious work, which makes us feel crappy and our days feel crappy also.  so when we see some unfortunate event happen to another individual it tends to perk up our day because, ‘shit, at least I’m not that guy!’.

Anyways, thats the reasoning that crossed my mind.  We laugh at misfortune to make ourselve feel better.