# Ever feel bad about feeling good about somebody's death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273 "2000-03-27T21:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273/21 "2000-03-28T23:27:00Z")
Thanks Dirt Devil. Oh, and my above post _should’ve_ read, “Hey **Vern** , I’m dead!” sorry for the confusion… ---
**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273/22 "2000-03-29T02:40:00Z")
I’m sure you remember my posts about how mean people were to me in school. I used to wish they’d die. My wish came true for 2 of them. One died in an auto accident (due to his own stupidity) and the other one had a rare form of bone cancer. He suffered. A lot. And I had no sympathy for him. And I don’t feel guilty to this day. * * * MaryAnn “I don’t care if it’s the queen!” ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273/23 "2000-03-29T02:52:00Z")
I had a teacher in sixth grade that I despised. I went home crying at least once a week because of her. She died a few years ago. I can’t bring myself to be happy about it, but I don’t feel bad either. In a way, I guess I’m just glad that no more eleven year old kids will have to put up with the bitch. (A lot of her students felt the same way about her). ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273/24 "2000-03-29T03:18:00Z")
This does not reflect well on my character, but yes… Two jobs back, an old man came into my place of work every day. To put it bluntly, his biggest joy was causing misery to others. No matter how fast, efficient or courteous the staff was, he heckled, ridiculed, humiliated and belittled. He was also rich, connected and just subtle enough to get away with it. BTW, NONE of it was for cause. He had absolutely no reason to complain about the service he received. But he ENJOYED causing pain. Example: a staff member’s husband died very unexpectedly. She was devestated, but came back to work w/in a few weeks. This SOB _knew her family_. But he made a point of singling her out and “complimenting” her on her how happy she looked, and the “relative ease” she must be enjoying now. And the SOB SMILED when this strong woman couldn’t stop the tears rolling down her face on a public desk. The ending wasn’t happy, but maybe it was just. The SOB killed himself. (The worst hell I could imagine was living inside his brain; maybe he was his own judge.) But when we heard the news, the work place went out and celebrated. That’s pretty damned sad and sick, but it was also true. We were just so glad we wouldn’t have to cringe and brace for abuse when we saw him coming. Fair being fair, the relief didn’t stop but the celebrating did when we read his obituary. In WWII he’d been in a German POW camp for almost 3 years–and torture. We couldn’t regret his death but we framed it differently. The crap and viciousness he handed out to us became just an echo. In an odd way, his death was celebrated as a release from the hell driven into a young man and borne for too many years. Sorry, didn’t mean to get goopy. But yeah, it was death celebrated–and then celebrated. Veb ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273/25 "2000-03-29T10:04:00Z")
I would just like to comment that there are few people on this board that can tell a story in such an involving way as TVeblen can. Beautiful, Vebbie. And very, very sad at the same time. * * * **Coldfire** _Voted **Poster Most Likely To Post Drunk** _ * * * **WallyM7** on Coldfire: _ **"Yeah, he knows a little about everything because they have a good prison library."** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-feel-bad-about-feeling-good-about-somebodys-death/15273.md?page=1)