There is nothing so cleansing or reassuring as a vicarious sadness.

There's nothing particularly wrong with being more pessimistic than optimistic. Optimism is broad-based, non-detail-oriented thinking; pessimism is detail-oriented thinking.

Crying is cleansing. There's a reason for tears, happiness or sadness.

We didn't find anything - which is reassuring.

In the water I am beautiful.

I'm not sure. But that bless-his/her-heart kind of melancholic humor is among my favorite things in the world. I guess it exposes a kind of humanity - or that's the hope, at least - a kind of grudging respect for human frailty. Unless it's actually kicking human frailty while it's down - I'm not sure.