Assignment #7

Jealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point - that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. There is only one alternative - self-value. If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think it's a mistake or luck. Take your eyes off others and turn the scanner within. Find the seeds of your jealousy, clear the old voices and experiences. Put all the energy into building your personal and emotional security. Then you will be the one others envy, and you can remember the pain and reach out to them. (Jennifer James)

“Jealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value.” This is the very first line in Jennifer James’ quote on envy. This is a powerful line because of the legitimacy contained within it. Every human being has value. Every being has value. There is something contributed by every life form. Rather it is the trees producing oxygen, the artists providing entertainment, or the doctors saving lives. To believe you or another being is over lesser value than the next being is incredulous. When we envy someone it is because we feel threatened. We feel something they have is missing from our lives and we long to fill that void. However, if we let the desire to acquire the possessions of others consume us; we will always have another vacancy to plug. Jealousy is being discontent with ourselves, with our lives. Envy is misery’s company. The two come in a package like the buy one get one free shoes your neighbor has you gaffing over. What your neighbor didn’t tell you is that the price of the first pair is doubled. You become so enveloped in coveting what others possess that we fall blind to desolation that may be accompanying their elation. Jealousy is like a weed. It will suck the water from the things most in need of attention unless we pull it from its roots. How do we find the root of our envy? We must understand what it is we covet and why we long to have it. Do we only want it because someone else has it? If not then we are probably not experiencing jealousy at that moment. That being said, it is not wrong to want something we have no need for. There is an immense distinction between want and envy. We can want things others have without wanting them out of jealousy. Also, jealousy does not only apply to material possessions. By definition jealousy is suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival. In Jennifer’s words “fear that you do not have value.” In trying to become equal with our rivals we stoop down to their level. Jealousy makes us recoil to equal or lesser value than that of our adversary. Yet, if we are content with ourselves and our own lives then we have filled the deepest void and are, therefore, of high value. To rid ourselves of fear or the value placed upon us by others is to gain a higher sense of self value. Self value will obliterate weeds by their roots without ever cringing. By human nature we envy and y human nature we grow weeds, but by self appraise we allow ourselves to crouch over long enough to demolish the roots of the weeds and prosper into something beautifully superior.