Envy has to be one of the funniest and weirdest little feelings that humans have. Yeah, I know that calling it funny, weird, and little is crazy considering that people have killed because of envy. But still, envy on its own is a sin, and really is unethical. There are lenses that you are gonna look through that may try to make it seem like envy is a good thing and something to aspire towards. But that’s just not okay.
There is no situation at all where envy will ever be good. The least that could come of it is dissatisfaction, and the worst is death or prison time. Why the hell would anyone want to put themselves through all that stress? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense.
Why am I saying this? During a conversation yesterday, someone told me that sometimes envy can be good. You see someone having something you like, and then it motivates you to work harder so you too can get it. But getting it is not so easy, so you work long and hard, putting yourself through intense stress just to get it. And eventually, you win! You do get it!
But does that stop there? No! And this is where it gets dark. What happens when the person you’re envious of has a different taste? What happens if just as you’re getting that one, they are upgrading to something better and more sophisticated? Something even more out of your league that will require even more work for you to acquire. What happens then?
And so, you put yourself into a vicious cycle of always trying to meet someone else’s standards, never really having your own tastes, but structuring your life to the taste of someone who doesn’t even know a fraction of what you’re going through. This will always have a terrible effect on you, because they’ll make it seem so easy while you’ll be experiencing just how difficult it will be. Then, you’ll find yourself hating them and also hating yourself. All for what? Just to get something that someone else has?
And sadly, this is only the easiest part. Envy has the capacity to get even worse. There are people who want things and don’t mind going diabolical to get what they want. People have killed for way less. And the funny thing is, when you let it, envy will give you all the reasons to go through with the horrific act.
You’ve heard stories of people committing murder, and when they were asked why, they simply said that “he was always showing off his wealth. He thought he was better than us.”
And just like that. Suddenly, driving a car you bought with your hard-earned money could become a show of wealth, talking about your business could be seen as bragging about what you have, and thus, a direct insult to who they are and what they’re yet to accomplish. You’re out here living your life as you know it, and someone is out there green with envy.
Yeah. But then, the worst ones are those who don’t even hope to gain anything from the horrific acts they carry out as a result of envy. They believe that as long as they don’t have it, then you shouldn’t have it either. So, they will destroy it and make sure that everyone is worse off than they were before. People will readily take losses on their own if it would stop others from getting ahead. People will happily lose their fingers if it means that someone else won’t have something.
And so it happens. There is a reason why, in Christianity, envy is one of the seven deadly sins; it’s destructive, and everything that it touches will get poisoned. Whether you’re motivated by it or not, whatever you do with it will be tainted because you won’t know for sure if you really want that thing, or you’re simply doing it because someone else has it. There’s a difference!
We really need to do better, protect our minds and hearts from envy, while also being on guard because there are a lot of envious mofos all around us, ready to pull us down at the slightest opportunity.
Let’s be smart!
