By Tony Samson
RESENTMENT DRIVES envy. But it can also be a goal-setting mechanism to focus action. Therefore, insurance and property companies publicize their top performers and how much they made and why they should be emulated (and, yes, envied) by the peasants. Promotions for senior positions also enumerate the achievements of the fortunate few, even amidst the grumbling of those passed over — he was just in the right place at the right time.
Certain objectionable urges like one of the seven deadly sins, not concupiscence, can be turned into positive motivators. Feeling unworthy when compared against another more fortunate and blessed is an unproductive pursuit. But, can envy which induces despondency over another’s good fortune be turned into a virtue? Can dissatisfaction drive ambition and effort?
Doesn’t “aspirational” marketing promote envy? What are role models and celebrities on billboards and TV, after all, but public objects of envy? Why are they employed as product endorsers? Perverse admiration of another, expressed in coveting his power, talent, worldly goods, and eye candy caregiver, should goad the awestruck to action. (I can also wear tight shorts.)
Can envy also work as a recruitment tool? Doesn’t a job offer from a rival company lure the envious to join the ranks of the envied? This doesn’t always work when the poached talent is on the verge of being dumped anyway by his current employer. Eventually, buyer’s remorse sets in for the new employer. Did he pay too much for a talent already past her “sell by” date? Has the cynical recruiter offered the illusion of success when failure is seen as sabotage — I wasn’t given the chance to do my job.
The flip side of envy with its distress over someone else’s good fortune is schadenfreude, a German word literally meaning “joy in misery” (somebody else’s). Taking delight in the misfortune of someone once envied is a different category of ill will.
A milder version of this aberrant happiness over another’s misfortune is taking comfort in one’s sad state by feeling superior over someone in worse straits — I cried when I had no shoes then I saw someone who had no feet. Is that realization really comforting? Another version of this “someone is worse off” approach to feel better is a Spanish aphorism — the beggar on horseback looks down on the beggar on foot.
This form of consolation achieved at the expense of another’s more miserable state seems offensive.
Envy is not always aspirational. It more often translates into plotting the downfall of the envied one as in the case of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello, where the villain crushes the happy marriage of his target through gossip and intrigue.
A biblical character like Job is the target of divine stress tests for worthiness in the kingdom of God. Successful and envied, Job is visited by divine punishment. It is patience here that is tested in the face of calamities that come one after the other, in escalating ferocity. Patience and faith are rewarded in the abundant restoration of all that was taken away.
Is it envy to admire somebody, hoping to equal if not surpass his wealth, fame, and power? How many rags-to-riches stories start with the ragged one staring from a distance at mansions and tycoons in fancy cars, with the miserable experience igniting a burning desire to succeed? This “I-was-poor-before” scenario is cited in interviews and profiles as the start of overwhelming wealth from a squatter dweller to a property mogul. Corrosive envy is disguised as the motivation for accumulating wealth — I used to ride the jeepney when they drove away in their cars.
Somebody else’s good fortune should not depress us. Life is not a contest, even if it seems to be. Only in sports are there winners and losers. And then there’s the next season.
Envy can be dispensed with as the goad for achieving success. Still, it can be useful in providing focus and passion. In contemplating how one can fall farther behind, envy provides the motivation to push ahead, or fall onto a depression.
Feelings of success or failure should not be determined by others. What we aspire for should be defined by us. We can be miserable without being envious… or happy without being envied.
Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.
