Ain't schadenfreude just the tootinest thing to brighten up a dull day? As a confirmed humanist/pacifist and aspiring good guy I feel guilty as hell for laughing at others, but if it's funny then it's FUNNY, dammit, and I just can't help myself.
Like the time my brother and I caught the bus into town (well, I caught it while he only managed to grab the handrail) when the driver set off at a fair lick. It was one of those old fashioned buses with an open rear corner. Bro, one hand clamped onto the back rail, covered the two miles to the next stop in a cloud of diesel exhaust fumes and at truly world-beating pace. The first thirty yards were no problem, and he grinned as he lifted one foot every three or four strides in a vain attempt to mount the platform, missing it by a whisker each time. THEN the driver went up through the box and poor Bro stopped grinning as he became almost airborne, each stride lengthening until he was touching down at about ten-yard intervals. Well, I KNOW I should have rung the bell to get the driver's attention but I was helpless, lying on the platform, thumping the floor and kicking my feet as I tried to survive the most hysterical fit of laughter of my life. When the bus stopped I helped Bro to the roadside, where he lay under some bushes for an hour or more, groaning and wheezing like a broken accordion. We never did get to town that day. Bro had kinda lost interest in the trip. I apologised profusely for my behaviour, of course, and he forgave me about, oh, let me see, it must have been thirty-three or thirty-four years later.