I'll Allow It

TL;DR. It’s OK for people to find joy in things we don’t personally care about. Good, even.

Hi (No) Wonder-ers,

I’d like to dedicate this to some of my least favorite people: the SAWBs (SAnctimonious Wet Blankets). This is a very real, perfectly cromulent term and definitely not something I just made up right now. 

We all know this type of person. The SAWB is someone who senses when we are on the precipice of feeling happiness and/or hope, then feels the need to remind us how wrong it is to feel this way when so many bad things are happening in the world:

“How can you be happy about [small thing you’re happy about], it’s so insignificant when the planet is burning and genocides are happening all around us!”

Yes, it’s true that bad things are happening around us: genocides, mass shootings, unnecessary cruelty, preventable loss of lives and livelihoods, a planet on fire. It’s true that the overall systemic state of affairs is bleak. It’s also true that taking a small amount of pleasure in watching Benson Boone backflip off a Moonbeam Ice Cream Truck won’t solve any of these. 

However, neither will sanctimoniously wet-blanketing what precious little joy someone experiences in a world where joy is harder to find than Waldo. The human existence in 2025 is not so replete with happiness that we can afford to be picky about where it comes from. It’s more important than ever to savor happiness and optimism everywhere it can be found, no matter how trivial the source. A dystopian societal backdrop makes it more important, not less important, to absorb every little dopamine bolus possible. Seizing the little joys is not denying the backdrop against which they occur. On the contrary, taking inordinate pleasure in something infinitesimally trivial, random, or mundane can be an acknowledgement of the bleakness that surrounds us. Anyone who can afford to be picky about where their joy comes from should be grateful to have a life so charmed. 

We need to cheer people on, not sanctimoniously wet-blanket them, when they find hope, optimism, or happiness in things. Yes, even if those things seem small, unimportant, uninteresting, or “cringe” to us. In a world that won’t quench our thirst for joy with a tall glass of ice water, the only way not to die of thirst is to take small sips of any water you can find, whenever you can. Individual small boons to our mental health add up, compound over time, and place us in the best position to face the world around us. 

And, hopefully, change it for the better.

Permission Granted,

Merrit