“I want change,” a woman told me. Pointing to the baby she was holding she said, “I can’t buy formula, and my father, who is 60 years old, had to go to another country for medical treatment” because the medicine he needed was unavailable in Venezuela. Over and over I was told of people’s frustrations with long lines and shortages of food and basic goods. Another young woman holding a baby said, “I get up at 4 am to stand in line and I can’t even buy food. I want change.” As she said this, the women standing next to her nodded their heads vigorously.
Taking pleasure in the knowledge of hungry infants is an acquired taste. How about the reverse, feeling contempt and disgust on observing the smug self-satisfaction of others? Apparently, this is called gluckschmerz.