This week, we watched a video comparing the different views Democritus and Heraclitus had on the world. This led to the conclusion of “cheerful despair,” an “intelligent kind of cheerfulness.” An oxymoron itself, how can you be cheerfully in despair? But it’s actually a pretty good way to handle life’s curveballs. Think about it: you know things are going to go wrong sometimes—friendships fall apart, we mess up, life doesn’t go as planned. But instead of just moping or freaking out, there’s something powerful in saying, “Yeah, it’s a mess…but I’m here for it.” Obviously, that doesn’t mean to just laugh ignorantly. Like the video said— “intelligent cheerfulness.”
It’s all about mindset. The same situation can look totally different depending on how you see it. For example, a reading we did this week was Recitatif by Toni Morrison. The two main characters, Twyla and Roberta, have a pretty troublesome relationship. They come from different backgrounds and misunderstand each other constantly. Their friendship is messy and confusing, and yet, somehow, it works. There’s this sense that even though they might never fully “get” each other, they still keep trying. “We’re both pretty lost, but maybe we can be lost together.” That’s cheerful despair right there—finding a strange kind of hope in the fact that nothing makes perfect sense.
So, embracing cheerful despair means realizing that life’s flaws are what make it interesting. It’s about shifting our mindset—not to ignore the pain, but to find a way to carry it lightly. By doing so, we might discover a bittersweet happiness that’s as real as any untainted joy.
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