Envy.

It’s been rearing its ugly head a lot over here, recently.

I’m envious of other people’s accomplishments, even in the face of my own. How come that person gets to be younger, prettier, more talented? Gets to open for so-and-so, be the darling of that promoter or this radio station and just plain gets more attention than I do. 

It makes me want to sit in a corner and sulk. 

Western culture is bizarre about competition. We’re obsessed with winning and achieving things. We teach kids in school to work hard for marks and to care about the hierarchy – who’s smarter than whom, who’s winning?

I was an academic whiz in school, so I got used to winning that race early on. I had my share of people who were mean to me because they resented my position in the academic hierarchy. You’d think that would have shown me the dark side of envy and made me less prone to it. But, I guess it didn’t.

Envy especially seems to thrive because we’re not supposed to talk about it. One of my favourite songs is about envy – My Cousin has a Grey Cup Ring by Donovan Woods.