The Small and Many Forms of Sadness
I have compiled an incomplete list of the small and many forms of sadness that can be experienced by humans. The sadness of cracking the spine of a new book. The sadness of odd socks. The sadness of attempting to pet a cat, but the cat does not wish to be petted. The sadness of a disappointing entertainment experience. The sadness of dropped foodstuffs. The sadness of changing and disposing of a spent lightbulb that was screwed into its socket by a human who is no longer alive. The sadness of viewing a defunct object from one’s childhood. The sadness of puddles that are deeper than anticipated. The sadness of discovering one’s parents are flawed and fallible. The sadness of observing a peacock who declines to fan out his tail. The sadness experienced by those who have been kicking a particular stone along the road for at least half a mile, and who have now accidentally kicked the stone into the long grass. The sadness of correctly deducing the solution to a crime committed in a Golden Age detective novel. The sadness felt when going down to the river with sustenance to feed the water-fowl, and finding no water-fowl. The sadness of realising a juvenile human has learned to pronounce correctly a word formerly pronounced incorrectly. The sadness of realising there are no dragons left in the world. The sadness that comes when reaching the bottom of a food-packet containing a delicious but nutritionally sub-optimal food. The sadness of eight thirty p.m. on the third Thursday in October. The sadness of leaving behind an umbrella. An invitation: please feel free to add to this list of forms of sadness. An observation: some forms of sadness can also be experienced by humans as pleasurable.
Jude Mason is a Yorkshire-based writer of flash fiction with a love of science fiction, a fascination for fairy-tales, zero social media skills and a secret conviction that cats are the answer to most of life’s challenges.