Why jealousy is a dangerous thing

Jealousy is a dangerous emotion. It makes you question yourself even if you know deep down inside that you are good at what you do. If you're not getting paid as much as someone who doesn't match up to your output, it makes you resent the work that you do, even though you can't stop. If someone is prettier, you waste your time bitching about her or him. If somebody just fits in right away, you spread nasty rumours about how she must have slept her way up. Jealousy is a dangerous thing and it makes you a bitter person.

But then, I think we all know that. We know it, but we feel the emotion anyway. Why is that? I have tried to be like a horse - I wear blinkers the way they do - just so I can't see what the rest are doing around me, and hence not feel jealous. But that's easier said than done. More often that not, I might not see it, but I am still thinking about it. I think about it on my trip home and then end up being so frustrated that I fight with my husband the moment I step into the house. And when that happens, I feel jealous of women who are unmarried. As I said, jealousy is a dangerous thing.

I remember an incident from about when I was just 14. My class was conducting a Miss 9th C contest (beauty contests were big back then), and my good friend was talking to all the boys in the class asking them which girl according to them was the most beautiful. Now I know it doesn't sound honest or modest, but most boys voted for me (I think, no, I know that it was because I was the most amiable girl - they didn't have to grovel around me). So when a boy told my good friend that he was voting for me, she asked him why? He said why not? And then she delivered the cincher, "Isn't she too short? And not to mention, that hairy upperlip?"



I was hurt. I was appalled. How could somebody, who I thought was a good friend, do this to me? But now, when I look back, I sort of understand. After all, her points were valid, so it was not as if she was lying. But jealousy made her forget the fact that I was a good friend, who had let her in on many secrets. Jealousy, you know, is a dangerous thing.

I stopped feeling jealous about someone else's pretty face a long time ago. I just realised that if I am not happy about the way I looked, nobody would be. So I dress up my ego in classy couture and always keep a smiling disposition, and I have come to realise that it works. As for the job thing, I have given in to my fate. I guess money will come when it has to. After watching a woman not buying a pav in the morning as it was too expensive, just about a rupee and 50 paise, I have come to know that I am almost a millionaire.

So I am sort of deciding not to feel jealous. What about you? Join me; it's a good place to be at. As I said, and I will repeat, jealousy is a dangerous thing.