Joy in Times of Trouble

I am experimenting here.  I have never used someone's "Track Back" capability and am trying it with this post.

UPDATE:  Turns out "Track Back" doesn't mean what I assumed it meant.

I usually go over to Julie D's blog over the weekend to see the "Joke of the Week."  While catching up today I found that she had posted a quotation on Joy.  Joy is in short supply these days, so I thought I would share what she had posted.

The quote lifted is:

Something I constantly notice is that unembarrassed joy has become rarer.  Joy today is increasingly saddled with moral and ideological burdens, so to speak.  When someone rejoices, he is afraid of offending against solidarity with the many people who suffer.  I don't have any right to rejoice, people think, in a world where there is so much misery, so much injustice.

I can understand that.  There is a moral attitude at work here.  But this attitude is nonetheless wrong.  The loss of joy does not make the world better - and, conversely, refusing joy for the sake of suffering does not help those who suffer.  The contrary is true. The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the impetus and courage to do good.

I think there is truth here.  It is easy for me to not rejoice in something because I see the larger unhappy picture.  But, each small victory should be rejoiced in.  Campaigns are the summation of battles.

Regards  --  Cliff