Better to do without. People have it in their minds that life shouldn’t suck and they’ve been sold a bill of goods. Not only does life frequently suck, even badly, it is okay if it does. It is okay if people are depressed and unhappy, if they do without or are poor.
“It is okay if people are depressed and unhappy, if they do without or are poor.”
I think you are confusing disappointment, sadness, and grief, with depression. Depression is different than being unhappy.
Depression (major depressive disorder) is a persistent, longterm emotional low. Often it is clinically diagnosed as repressed anger (i.e. anger turned inwardly).
There are degrees of depression in which a person may be unable to function or even live at all. Such emotional pain is not normative. Often people who seem to have everything going for them are severely depressed. They may be smart, well-liked, rich, physically fit and attractive, otherwise healthy, etc. but still depressed. The Kennedy girl who just died of an overdose is a good example.
Disappointment, sadness, and grief are things all people, including those who are totally healthy, experience. Depression is a mental illness which is not fully understood medically or scientifically. Or, at least the ultimate cure for depression has not been found by medical science.