An Envious World
"Envy is so commonplace in our time. The less fortunate envy the wealthy. Young girls whose phone never rings envy those girls that seem to have the young men lined up to ask them out. Those boys that are not outstanding athletes envy those that are. Married couples that are unable to bear children envy those that can. There seems to be no end to the list of modern-day cases of envy" (Campbell 2004). Everyone is envious; everyone envies someone else. It is an involuntary emotion that everyone feels. It is often misconstrued as jealousy, which is an emotion similar is certain ways, but also rather different. Envy is "a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions,etc" (Dictionary.com 2006). Envy can cause barriers and lines between people, which are often times unaware of. Envy is an emotion that overpowers us as humans, which takes effect on the way humans interact or feel about others.
In this world, everyone can never seen to get completely what they want, and there is and will always be someone that is or has something better. There are many envious people what do not even know that they are envious of someone, and it can be broken down. "It is agreed that envy involves an envier (“Subject”), a party who is envied (“Rival”)—this may be a person or group of persons—and some possession, capacity or trait that the subject supposes the rival to have (the “good”)"(Envy vs. Jealousy 2002). Hence, there is always a subject and a rival. The good is what the subject envies that the rival has. In our modern days, envy and jealousy surrounds us on all different levels, and sometimes we don't even know it is there."Envy can be a hidden emotion, kept under a smile so others don't see it" (Dr. Phil 2009). A good example of envy would be when two best friends. One tries hard to get good grades, but does not,while that other friends slacks off and does not pay attention, but still gets good grades. Another example, would be on Christmas, a classmate comes back to school with all the things you wanted, but did not get. Also, many married couples may feel envious over each other because of the amount of money that each of them make. "Today however, women are finding out they can provide for themselves. So women now feel envious about their salaries and their husband's salaries, with the overall picture of who can have more material possessions"(Saltz 2008). There is not more competition amongst married couples now, because women now have the power and authority to make salaries like, if not better then men.
With this said, envy is an emotion that is likely to feel, but hard to control. Envy is not always a bad thing, however, because it can create competition, which is a health drive that all humans should want to have. When being competive, there would be less to envy because one would be about to achieve whatever it was that they were envious of.
Reference List
Campbell, R. 2004. Envy-- A Wide Spread, Soul-Damned State of Mind. TheBible.net. http://www.thebible.net/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=86&cat=9
Dictionary.com. 2006. Envy. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/envy
Dr.Phil. 2009. Relationships/Sex: Controlling Envy. http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/340
Envy Vs. Jealousy. 2002. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/envy/#1.1
Saltz, G. 2008. Are You Envious of Your Friends with Money? Today. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/12420313/
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