People may be grouped in accordance with various categories. I’m not a sociologist, so my division by no means pretends to be professional. As usual, I want to share with you some random thoughts and observations.
For example, there are nations that love celebrating merry events, for example weddings, and there are peoples taking delight in collective disasters. Hence the British celebrate their royal weddings, experiencing a kind of joyful collective hysteria, whereas the Polish prefer funerals and anniversaries of national disasters (lost wars and uprisings).
Actually I criticise neither of them. Personally I’d rather participate in a wedding than a funeral, but, as a Pole, I know very well how pleasant the choral singing of sombre songs may be. Consequently, I don’t criticise what some call “a collective hysteria”. If people want to be happy in a group of a few millions of feeling likewise, let them be. If otherwise, why should I mind?
There are people who like other people enjoying themselves, and, unfortunately, those to whom there’s nothing more abominable than somebody else’s laughter and happiness. The spoilsports are, in my opinion the worst plague of this planet. The Bolsheviks were a horrible group of spoilsports and so were the Nazis.
Dictators and populists are always followed by masses of the disappointed. I don’t say that leisure classes and haves in general are often hated with no reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, loathsome rage on the part of have-nots is a state of mental disorder which can easily slip out of control. When people begin the spiral of hatred the original reason (sometimes justified by the situation) ceases to mean anything. Hatred takes energy from itself and seems not to need any further causes to be triggered.
Some reactions of my Facebook friends and their friends to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding were so astounding that I was lost for words for a couple of minutes. I understand a bit of criticism and satire, but what I could read was an outburst of unprecedented abhorrence towards the people they don’t even know.
I can understand those who claim that the money spent on the royal wedding could have been assigned for starving children in Africa or finding a cure for cancer. However, none of us has the right to tell anybody else how he/she should spend his/her own money! If the British fancied to spend their money on a folk festival called Royal Wedding, it is their problem. Lots of people had fun. One of the properties of having fun is not thinking too much. For a few hours people didn’t have to rack their brains but could just relax and enjoy pompous ceremonies. If they are happy, why not? None of my business.
On the other hand, there are people who are never happy. My wife and my friends call me pessimist every now and again, but, to my surprise, I discover guys who are far more pessimistic than I. In truth my pessimism is rather passive and, hopefully, does not do anybody much harm. Active killjoys gathering in small groups, big just enough not to feel lonely, and hating everybody around, can be really dangerous. There is nothing strange in rebellious teenagers looking for, or developing rather, their own values. If one is unable to build good relationships with others and this sad state doesn’t change with age, the result is horrible. There is nothing more pathetic than an aging anarchist (yet also any other populist, including religious fanatics). Adolescent pessimism resulting from a pose connected with certain subcultures combined with senile bitterness make up an explosive mixture.
Thus, suspended somewhere between those living in an self-inflicted hell of Polish martyrdom and those loathing other people just because the latter are more affluent or know how to have a good time, I choose William and Kate’s wedding. They are neither my relatives nor even fellow countrymen. In contrast to me, they are awfully rich. I don’t care. I’m happy for them. Honest. Why? Because being happy is extremely pleasant and sane! It’s simply good for me.
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