Jealousy is a Curse
Please feel sorry for the jealous girl or boy in your group. Please feel more sorry if it happens to be you.
There’s a little bit of the jealous demon in everyone, so fight it before it becomes too big for you. Watch for the borderline between competition and jealousy.
Some people liken it to alcoholism, and pass it off as a disease, but I won’t have a bar of this. It’s a plain straight-out attack of greed.
In fact it’s a sort of psychological gluttony, such a hideous word that I think it carries its own shock cure, and might jolt the jealous ones back to happiness.
Just like the drinker who does not stop until he hits the ground, the Jealous One has no such word as “enough” in his language.
He wants everything. All at once. His share and your share, too. Sufficient is not enough. He must have too much, and he is miserable and cantankerous if he can’t get it.
They say the jealous person hurts himself most. I’m not too sure about this. I think he hurts everyone within earshot and eyeshot, and particularly the poor victim.
Don’t miss out on: THE ART OF LETTING GO
The resentful wavelengths of jealousy poison the air, and hurt a lot of people who don’t deserve to be hurt at all.
People who set out to enjoy themselves feel the tension and start looking around to see who’s sticking pins in dolls. Usually it’s a girl. Boys seem better insulated.
The person who is jealous about people is usually jealous about things, also, and even things in the abstract.
What if Joanne can fly a plane, and you can’t even drive the family car?
You don’t go around muttering “I think flying is stupid for girls.”
All your friends will see the green, green light in your eye, if you do. Let Joanne be as she likes to be, and wish her luck.
After all, you can learn to fly if you like. She is not stopping you. If you don’t want to, then wish her luck and you get on with something else. She is not jealous that you’re a nurse, or a model, or an artist. She’s pleased.
Most people are very proud to have distinguished and successful friends. They like to see them do well. Who wants to be surrounded by a pack of deadbeats?
Who, indeed? Only the unreasonable one who must always be king of the castle.
If you have this type of jealousy, nip it in the bud, because you are the odd one out. It’s a good thing to work on it before your character sets like cement. At this stage your faults are only a jelly, and now is the time to melt them.
Here are some other symptoms of jealousy in the making:
Buying the same things as your best friend, but always just a little more expensive.
Cat-talk, such as: “I wouldn’t go out with him if he were the last boy on earth. I don’t know what Mary sees in him.” Because if you really thought that, you wouldn’t say it, you’d have mercy on him.
Later, in the world of adults, these remarks develop into something really acid, like: “Are you on a diet, dear? You’re thinner in the face.”
The day comes when the victim retaliates: “I guess we’re all showing signs of wear and tear.”
It’s hard luck when such repartee has to start young, but there are times when it is the only thing.
Recently, a very young friend of mine had a book published, to the unspeakable envy of one (un)certain friend. The (un)friend said:
“Honestly, I’m disappointed in your book, Jackie. I thought you would do much better than that, with your brains.”
Jackie’s face fell, and I couldn’t blame her for asking, in a tone of disbelief: “Can you read?”
She scored, oh, yes, she scored. Not to be recommended, though, unless, like Jackie, you have a whole roomful of people to entertain and cannot afford to be robbed of face in front of them. If that is the case, the coup de grace must be delivered as gently and quietly as Jackie delivered hers.
Under ordinary, everyday circumstances it would be better to say simply: “That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.”
It’s a good old world if you’re happy with your own lot and don’t begrudge the success of others.
Don’t miss out on: The Girl’s Guide: Should I Date Him?
