Anne,

Schadenfraude is a common, even universal experience and I admit to being guilty of it myself. I think your conflict of feeling guilt afterward speaks to your level of self-esteem. Someone less enlightened than you would have the good feelings without the bad ones following, in my opinion.

I experience a similar thing when I feel pity towards others. For example, I am having a tough time moving on from the breakup of my romantic relationship. I am still connected with my ex on Facebook. Within the last few days, I have seen him “friend” a number of women half his age who are in various stages of undress or provocative poses. It turns my stomach to an extent, but then the feeling turns into pity, that although I have spent some nights full of tears at home on my couch with my dog, at least I’m not out there trying to fill a void with people young enough to be my children. But then that pity for him turns into a disapproval of myself because who I am to feel “superior”? We all need to heal, and live in our own way. There should be no value judgment on how anybody chooses to live his own life.

I’m not sure what to recommend other than to say don’t beat yourself up too much over feelings that to me, are fairly benign. Work on being the best Anne you can be and take pleasure in whatever makes you happy. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. There are no thought police. As long as your behavior is loving and accepting, I think you get a free pass to chuckle at whatever entertains you.