As indicated above, the Western response to despair is to deny it. Don't wallow. Dust yourself off and get back to it. Be sad for it bit if you must, but hurry up and get through the stages of grief and move on. Get over it.
Goth and Emo subcultures may be counter-response to this perpetual sunny perspective that we in the West are supposed to have. Hamlet, mourning his father gives his famous speech "Seems," madam? Nay, it is; I know not "seems." (1.2.77). Despair, if we work with it properly, should be a signal that "something is rotten in Denmark," and we should do something about it, not just paint on a happy-face and get on with life.
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