25 April

Oscar Wilde defined sentimentality as "the luxury of having an emotion without paying for it". Disasters seem to prompt waves of sentimentality, where we try to emote our way out of the problem. 'Positivity' will fix it. Stirring memes, 'relief' concerts, clapping in driveways. Takes a bit of thought to unpack disasters, if we can interrupt our emotions for even a moment. "I think the way we escape the endless cycle of just back-patting ourselves for our own deep feelings is by being willing to be critical of what those feelings are and being willing to question whether those feelings are doing any good." (Leslie Jamison)