Humor 2: Superiority Theory at its Finest

Earlier today, my friend and I were making our way through the treacherous icey terrain outside of the greek houses. We had just parked and were headed as quickly as possible for the warmth of the great indoors. However, just as we were almost there my friend accidentally dropped his phone and watched as it slowly started sliding down the slight hill towards an even steeper hill which finally led to the pond outside the Greek. My friend, Micheal Butler, then desperately followed after it, hoping to stop it before it was too late. As he reached his phone however, he could not get any sort of gripping, as the ice was just too slippery. He then proceeded to slowly slide down this slant towards the pond. Cursing loudly, he then frantically struggled to stop his momentum to no avail. He then continued to slide down the hill towards the frozen pond. Luckily for him he was able to grab onto a small patch of grass and stop his slippery decent. At this point, seeing that he is no longer in danger of falling into the water, start to laugh at him. At which point he starts to yell curse words at the world, causing me to laugh even harder. The situation did not end there however. Micheal then quickly realized that he would not be able to escape his icy prison because there was nowhere he could gain traction. I watched as he unsuccessfully tried to find a way to climb up. 

After laughing at his misery for a good 5 minutes, I thought it was about time that I tried to help out. I considered leaving him there a while but it was pretty cold so I wanted to go inside as soon as possible. Eventually, we ended up crafting a rope made from tying sweaters together. It was a pretty dangerous rescue mission but in the end we were able to pull it off. Once we pulled him out, he punched me in the chest for not helping him out sooner. I deserved it. We then both went inside as quickly as possible and had a good laugh about it.

I think that this situation perfectly illustrates superiority theory. I watched as an unfortunate series of events unfolded on my friend right before my eyes. To him it was a miserable experience but to me it was great entertainment. This discrepancy really shows how, in some instances, watching others struggle can cause laughter. I think that this may be in part because, as humans, we are constantly comparing ourselves. When we see someone who is going through a bad experience or struggling it makes us feel happy to not be in his or her position. Once I knew that he was in no real danger, the situation became comical.