Laughing At Other People's Misfortunes.

[HolyMoly]

This is a true story. When I was in the first grade, I was outside one day during recess and was watching a girl attempting to get on a merry-go-round. Of course, any kid with any intelligence knows that the proper way to do it is to push it around ... then, when it's as fast as you want it to be, jump "inward" toward the center. This girl pushed it around, then jumped straight forward - falling flat on her face on the blacktop. Immediately, I slipped into a fit of laughter.

A teacher went to the girl, helped her up, and asked another girl to help her to the nurse's office. Then, the teacher came to me and scolded me for laughing. Later, when I got my report card, it had a red checkmark under "Social Skills" ... and the teacher had written in the note, "Laughs at other people's misfortunes."

(the rest is tongue-in-cheek but essentially true)

Since I've become an adult, I've worked for the military (whose purpose is to cause other people's misfortunes), a medical product supplier (whose purpose is to make a buck off of other people's misfortunes), and a medical insurance company (whose purpose is to capitalize on the fears people have of their own misfortunes). From these experiences, I've learned an important lesson. It's OK to cause other people's misfortunes, make a buck off of other people's misfortunes, and even capitalize on the fears people have of their own misfortunes ... as long as you don't laugh about them at the same time.