Monday, November 28, 2022

It is Better to be Envied, than Pitied


It is Better to be Envied,
than Pitied




We have all heard the Onida TV slogan, "Owners pride, Neighbours envy". Yet many of us do not want to live an enviable life or rather we are afraid of living an enviable life. I was probing, why this could be and a few answers flashed my mind. 



It is a general tendency for people to believe that if we live a good life, we become an object of jealousy and so there is a likelihood of getting into trouble or being harmed by people who have bad intentions towards us. There is also a wide spread belief in our culture, which we call "Drisiti". It is the belief that when people envy us, something bad will happen to us. So, people don't want to attract the evil eye. So, even if one lives a good life, he doesn't want to tell the world about it, because it is often mistaken as being boastful or being a show off. Moreover, we have been taught to be modest about our achievements, right from our young age and so we tend to play it small.


 

Whatever may be the reason, people are wary of envy. As a result, people do just the opposite of ‘attracting envy’ and that is ‘seeking pity’.


 

I come across, two types of people. One set of people, who are always talking about all the good things in their life, their achievements, their happy experiences and enjoying a good life style. On the contrary there is another set of people who are constantly complaining about their life, their misfortunes, their bad past and how miserable they are. They are cursing God or the world for being so unfair to them.


 

So, is God partial to one set of people? The answer is NO. Everyone has their own share of troubles and worries. No one in the world is immune from it. But it is the way we deal with them that makes all the difference. We can either be happy, content and accept our life as it is or we can be unhappy, discontent and worry about all the things that are not going well  in our life. We can either look at our life as a curse or we can look at our life as a blessing and this attitude alone will decide our happiness.


 

Self pity is a shame, and people should realize that. It kills one’s own self esteem. It is a negative way of seeking attention. Though, at the outside people seem to feel sorry, deep inside they feel that person is worthless and tend to avoid them.


The root to self pity lies in comparing oneself with others, and feeling frustrated. What they fail to realize is their own uniqueness and special abilities. They take all God’s blessing for granted, and fail to appreciate it.


 

As a saying goes, when we fail to appreciate what we have it starts to diminish. The same happens with people with self pity. The more they pity themselves the more worse their life becomes. It is a sort of a negative spiral. Ultimately, self pity de-powers them, rather than making their life better. People who are victims of self pity need to consciously get out of this circle and decide to be more positive and say positive words. As a result their life will change for the better.


 

Deep in our hearts, we are all dreaming of living a good life. We desire a posh house, a better car, having the latest gadgets, enjoying more luxurious life. We want to live a particular lifestyle, but owing to the fear of envy we want to just be one among the crowd. So, it is a paradox.


 

Just because we don’t want to be envied, is it OK to live a miserable life? Now think for a moment. Does it make sense? The obvious answer is a NO!


 

So, what do you chose to live: Pitiable life or Enviable life?. Don’t you agree, “ It is better to be envied, than to be pitied.” 













   D. Senthil Kannan,

    Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.
    Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 
    Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

 

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