I agree, drama sells far better than a success story. Stories of wisdom, joy and peace often leave you just a little pensive, you don't have much to contribute, there's nothing to join in the other person's self-pity. I've often found that the stories I've blogged here hardly got any attention unless they were somehow provocative or intoned a canon of suffering. Where I found wise words, even to my own astonishment, there was little I could have added other than agreeing with the author.
If you mean parties in the sense of getting together somewhere with several people, I've been wondering for some time whether such parties don't lack a deeper meaning.... Where people meet just to talk, there is a lack of occasion that includes a ritual that gives meaning to the occasion. In the past, when there was an impending wedding in the neighbourhood, we used to celebrate the impending marriage by weaving a wreath of pine branches. This lasted half the day and afterwards friends, neighbours and relatives carried this wreath through the streets. In this way, the news of the impending union of two people spread to the neighbourhood. As a child, I found these occasions very moving and joyfully took part in everything. Today there is no such thing. The power of neighbourhood, traditional celebrations has died out in my hometown and there has never been anything like it in the city where I live for many years.
I would like to revive those things. Maybe new communities will form and get things started in a new and friendly way. Cheers to you.
By parties, I didn't mean the actual gatherings we get to attend, I used the word metaphorically to depict a person playing the victim card to garner pity from others who feel sorry for how bad their situation is, despite it not being necessarily the case. So the person seeking out self-pity hosts the party and by sharing the story with others they are actively inviting others to the party, others unknowingly will, of course, feel bad for the person, but the person may not even be themselves aware that they are actually seeking out pity from others.
But subconsciously their brains continue to search out for it, if it is not offered by the party invitees, they stop the invitations and the party has only one host, who is also the guest and so one is feeling sorry for how bad their situation really is.
My problem is not with expressing to others when we are struggling, but rather in those who choose rather than dealing with actually whatever it is that is not going right, they choose to abdicate any responsibility and only seek out pity without actually taking any responsibility towards changing their situation.
I hope this helps make it clear what I am trying to convey.
Cheers, and thanks for dropping by.