I know, I know: We just had MLK Day earlier this week. But for those who live in states where MLK’s birthday was once not recognized – yeah, I’m talkin’ to YOU New Hampshire and Arizona – you can read all about it here. Or for those who live in states where MLK Day is slyly paired with Robert E. Lee’s birthday – most notably Idaho, Alabama, and Mississippi: I have a counter proposal. This should appeal to those who are looking for something a little bit grittier and harder-edged. So hear me out, y’all.
A new POTUS gets inaugurated at most only once every four years, right? So here’s my idea for a new national holiday in late January that we can celebrate every single year: National Shadenfreude Day. What’s that, I hear you ask? Well, from the WOTD archives of Merriam Webster comes this borrowing from the German that should appeal to the inner-National-Socialist in each of us.
Schadenfreude – noun, often capitalized.
From the German: Schaden damage + Freude joy.
A gleeful sense of pleasure in someone else’s pain.
Or, enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.
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Think about it for a minute. We already have Lincoln’s National Day of Thanks enshrined on the last Thursday in November – you can see a previous post on that topic from my 62nd birthday, here. And we’ve already got MLK Day, however watered-down, as described above. What could be more fitting – indeed, what could be more American – than a new national holiday celebrating the misfortunes of others? I mean, if you’re looking for something to join us together in a spirit of national unity here at the sunset of the Trump-era, well folks, surely this is it. After all, nothing unifies like a sense of shared pain. And nothing satisfies quite like that special sense of glee over the pains of others.
Am I right? C’mon, Proud Boys: Let’s hear it!
So then, National Shadenfreude Day it is.
As the sun sets on the Trump Era….
Long may it reign.
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Trigger Warning: This is satire. If that bugs you, may
I suggest you re-read Swift’s A Modest Proposal.
Then, go get over yourself. And remember:
Only 1460 days until the next inauguration.
That is true for both sides of the aisle.
It’ll all be over before you know it.
Parting Shots
Credit for inspiration of National Schadenfreude Day goes to radostdg.
Only the errors – and the grittier bits of satire – are mine.
Mea Culpa.