Fully justified

[Crazed Hermit]

So I'm having a conversation with a co-worker. He seems depressed all the time. I spend a lot of my time feeling blue so I figured we could talk about it. Share.
I tell him "Horrible things happen to people all the time, and you don't see everyone moping around all the time do you?"
He says "Well you don't know what I've been through! You wouldn't understand it because you've never had anything that bad happen to you."
"You don't know what I've been through either." I say
At this point he spills out his story. A sad one indeed. But his bad fortune is hardly out of the ordinary. Just run of the mill bad luck.
Still, at the end a consolation seems necessary
"That's fucked up dude." is all I can think to say. His reaction to this is extraordinary, he seems to hold back a smile. What is he getting out of this conversation?
"You were so sure things were worse for you. Whats your story?" He's challenging me. Is this even a competition I want to win? It sure is, this little fucker doesn't know shit, he hasn't been through shit, and I was going to show him.
I start from the very beginning. I spell out the whole disastrous ordeal from beginning to end. I leave out no detail or nuance. The expression on his face changes from a smug look, to his mouth agape. Fully in awe of the horrible things I had endured at the hands of others. He's stupefied. Stunned. Speechless. The bell rings to go back to work, we part ways without saying anything.
I walked away from him that day completely satisfied in myself. Fully justified in my misery, no one could take that away from me.

[serpentsings]

you will continue to grow more and more okay with what has happened. and sometimes sharing with other people (and watching their reaction) helps to make you let go of the past.

i know i love watching peoples faces when i drop a few bombs. lol.

but seriously... youre helping others somewhat by sharing... and it will help you in turn. and youre already such a great guy... youll only go up!

oh darnit.. im getting all Dr. Phil/Paula Abdul on you again... *smacks self*

[Ankh]

woah. yeah, its called pride man (: humans needs to be best at something.
but i know the feeling, kinda funny.
but you should help your mate. im sure hes very facinated at you, and thats the best odds for helping. but you can end up hurting him like hell. dont be stupid, he's in your hands. xD

[Crazed Hermit]

We all have our ups and downs, he's doing fine now.

[Crazed Hermit]

Thinking about this, maybe what my co-worker had been through was a worse experience, considering how badly he was handling it. You know some people could have gone through what I did and been OK with it. Gone about their lives no problem. And still others may have killed themselves over it.
So when comparing 2 situations, how do you take measure of such things? Who is to objectively say which thing that happened is worse than the other?
Seems like the only measurement is in a person's reaction to it. If 2 people live through the exact same experience, one feels fine about it, and the other is ruined by it, we can say that the second person went through the worse ordeal. Even if it was the same thing.