The Committee of Sadness

Read at an event to raise money for educaid held at Colchester Sixth Form College on Friday 11th November 2016.

In response to yet another awful event

fed to us in the comfort of our own homes,

that was starting to make us uncomfortable,

we got together as a group

and said how sad the situation was

and that something needed to be done.

We formed a committee

to give us something in common.

We were united in our sadness.

After a few meetings

one of our group,

for reasons of their own we supposed,

stopped coming

and instead chose to actively respond to

the situation we were all sad about

by giving practical help to

the people concerned.

We talked about how good this was,

and how it was easy for that person

as they were a natural helper,

but agreed that we just needed to be sad

about the sad situation,

and how beneficial it was

to have this committee

for the discussion, and the mutual sharing,

of the aforementioned and duly noted sadness.

We unanimously agreed that we would pass on our thanks

to the person concerned

and express our sadness

to the people we were sad about.

But as we were busy with the committee,

and with generally being sad,

we just did not have the time.

So we made sure it went in the minutes of our meeting.

Our chairperson,

eminently qualified in sadness

both professionally and through personal experience,

pointed out that,

as the meetings progressed,

we were all becoming much sadder

and that we should be pleased with our progress.

Someone else raised the point that

if we were going to be pleased about something

would that not detract from our sadness

and therefore undermine the whole purpose of the group.

A very interesting discussion followed.

By now,

news of our success had spread

to other sad people,

who naturally wanted to join

and share in our sadness, and bring along some sadness of their own.

We felt, however, that we wanted

to stay as we were

for the foreseeable future,

and, as someone kindly pointed out,

we didn’t have any more chairs.

So we suggested they form their own group. 

This led to an increase in their sadness

and a further feeling of rejection.

Some of our members,

Whilst acknowledging how they had benefitted from the group,

were feeling frustrated

that the world seemed to be becoming

a much sadder place and,

as a result,

were starting to feel angry.

We convened an extraordinary meeting to discuss this

and concluded that we were,

fundamentally,

a committee of sadness and,

furthermore,

that anger was a different subject matter altogether.

As a result of this decision

a motion was put forward that any angry individuals

would be politely requested to leave our Committee of Sadness

and form their own group where they would be free

to be

as angry as they needed to.

One of the people concerned

who had years of experience in anger,

(admittedly not in a professional capacity,

but who had been spoken to by the police 

on a couple of occasions

and was currently undergoing anger management therapy)

was nominated to be their chairperson,

and the motion was carried unanimously.

We recorded a vote of thanks

for all their contributions,

and wished them well in their anger.

As a result, we were free to continue  

in the sad manner we had become accustomed.

We agreed,

unanimously,

how very sad we still were

and we remained,

united,

in our sadness.