By: John L. M.
Envy is the most ridiculous of ideas, for there is no single advantage to
be gained from it. Consider this famous old saying: “When you compare what you
want with what you have, you will be unhappy. Instead, compare what you deserve
with what you have, and you’ll discover happiness.” It’s not trying to keep up
with the Joneses that causes so much trouble. It’s trying to pass them.
Washington Allston reflected, “The only competition worthy of a wise
mind is within himself.” Nothing gets you behind faster than trying to keep up
with people who are already there.
If envy were a disease, everyone would be sick. Frances Bacon said,
“Envy has no holidays. It has no rest.” The envy that compares us to others is
foolishness. “But they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing
themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).
“Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). Envy is one of the
subtlest forms of judging others. Richard Evans said, “May we never let the
things we can’t have or don’t have spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have
and can have.” What makes us discontented with our personal condition is the
absurd belief that others are so much happier that we are. Thomas Fuller said,
“Comparison, more than reality, makes men happy or wretched.”
Helen Keller says, “Instead of comparing our lot with those who are
more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great
majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”
Envy consumes nothing but its own heart. It is a kind of admiration for those
whom you least want to praise.
An Irish proverb said, “You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter
how tall your grandfather was.” You’ll find it’s hard to be as happy as others
if you believe others to be happier than they are.
Worry about what other people think of you, and you’ll have more
confidence in their opinion than you have in your own. Poor is the one whose pleasures
depend on the permission and opinion of others.
Saint Chrysoston reflected, “As a moth gnaws a garment, so doeth envy
consume a man.” Envy provides the mud that failure throws at success. There are
many roads to an unsuccessful life, but envy is the shortest of them all.
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