Hobbies.

Some people collect misery. I'm realizing this and it astounds me. Theirs, others, true, imagined - there are a variety of miseries to collect. And people who gather misery love to display their collections. In fact, its hard to get them stopped once they get started. So-and-so's daughter... a neighbor's father-in-law's son... this country... that people group... their childhood... on and on and on.

And if you get two or more misery collectors together they can sit for hours and show off their own collections while trading miseries with each other.

"Did you hear about so-and-so? *dramatic sigh*"
"No! Tell me!"
"Well.... yada, yada, yada."
"Really! Oh my word. That sounds like so-and-so from such-and-such-place. Something similar happened to them."
"Really? Tell me!"
"Well..."

And on and on it goes until they each walk away with increased collections as they can now tell each other's woeful tales of misery simply by adding, "Well, so-and-so told me that so-and-so..."

Everyone needs a hobby I guess.