A Social Blight

R.a.n.t. of week 02/24/13

This weekend I was invited to a friends for dinner, along with two other couples and our children. It was the first time I've visited since he moved into the place. The evening was wonderful! After dinner the kids played outside while the rest of us chatted. For a while the girls talked in a group while the guys did likewise. During dessert, all us adults talked together, reminiscing about old times or relating tales of things we've recently done that not all of us have been included in. You couldn't ask for a better evening. For a brief moment, I felt I was living a 'Come Dine With Me' moment. Beyond the dinner, what really impressed me was how gorgeous their home is. The view they have is lovely *, even the drive to their home is impressive. The décor and design of the house was breath-taking. Certainly homier and more comfortable than my own.

Now that I'm done explaining that, you are probably wondering what my rant is this week. Perhaps it's jealousy, right? No. Not on my part, and I'll tell you why. I was also at another house this weekend. The drive to this house was along a main city street. As I walked upstairs, the steps creaked and the view outside was of the house next door. The family had a guest staying because his house was without working plumbing, so the apartment was fairly crowded. What's amazing is they were all seemingly content. How so? Because their house is considerably better than living in a Burmese refuge camp, where many of them are from. Granted, I don't speak the Karen language, but I heard several stories interpreted to me about some of the things they have experienced. I would have a hard tell writing them here without tearing up.

So no, I'm certainly not jealous. Jealousy is a social blight which unnecessarily destroys ones own happiness and joy. And what's the point of being jealous anyway? We all have things someone else will covet. It could be our health, finances, faith, relationships, endurance, talent, the list goes on. Instead of being jealous of others we should be appreciating what we ourselves have. And if you think about it, the more we work on appreciating what we have, the more others are likely to be jealous of us.




* The photo above may or may not be a view from my friends house. I'll let you decide.