When we say Avenue Q on Sunday, I realized I’d heard one of the songs before: Schadenfreude.

I actually like the song quite a bit–nice and upbeat and extremely funny.

But later I started thinking about the song. And realized that although I enjoy the song, I don’t quite get schadenfreude as a concept. Yes, I know what the word means, and I understand the idea intellectually, but I don’t really feel the concept.

All those teen movies where horrible things happen to the characters for comedy? I cringe. Those YouTube videos of people falling down the stairs or off ladders taking a nasty tumble? I can’t watch them.

Anything along those lines horrifies me. I have to look away and feel almost ashamed at having seen someone’s suffering.

Let me make it clear, I’m not saying I’m a better person because of this. I’m most certainly not a saint, and I will admit to feeling a certain satisfaction when I hear something bad has happened to someone who was cruel to me in the past. But I don’t like to hear about anyone suffering a physical trauma, no matter what they’ve done. And I know entirely too well what it’s like to be laughed at, and it’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

I know there have to be other people who have the same reactions I do. But a whole lot more people seem to get it.

Maybe it’s the fact that (to the best of my knowledge) I don’t have any German heritage.