(no subject)

I've long considered myself about equal parts optimist and pessimist, but others probably see me as a pessimist first (and no, that does not make them pessimists). Adding credence to this view is my realization that I have a narrower concept of "good news" than many people I know, and political differences have nothing to do with it.

Yesterday someone declared (and I paraphrase), "Good news! Cleveland police just arrested a man who'd been imprisoning three women for the last decade!" Well, yes, I'm glad to anticipate that he'll be punished accordingly and won't get to keep doing what he did. But not having known about the crime already, I sense that the bad news of their imprisonment far outweighs the good. Even my personal term "relieving news" hardly applies here, because I feel worse than I did before hearing a thing about it.