In Defense of Happy Endings
Or to the people in my class who think the only meaningful endings are sad and tragic:
Life is a mixed bag. There are moments in our lives that are pure, unbridled joy and moments that are heart-wrenching anguish. We can experience suicidal despair and euphoria in the same lifetime.
Death is not a happy thing, but a death can be happy. My maternal grandfather was 92. He had cancer and he died at home, after a night of watching M*A*S*H with his grandkids and his daughters and eating Chinese takeout. He died after months of pain, after coming to terms with lifelong grudges, and finding some peace in religion and the numerous things to be thankful for in his life. He died as happily as any man can die.
The argument that “sad and tragic endings are realistic” does not actually hold. Sadness and tragedy are an inextricable part of the human experience, but they are not the whole of it and to believe that is itself a tragedy.
