PIECES OF THE PIE (Germany, Part 4)(New pictures added to Scrapbook)
As I continue to think about the wedding in Berlin and what I learned there, my thoughts have turned again to the evils of the sin of envy. In Berlin, whether among the wedding guests, the hotel and catering staffs, the people you encounter on the street, there's a feeling of possibilities, of expansion, of building for the future. There's a feeling that everyone can succeed. It occurs to me that this feeling is a cure for envy, for the desire to bring others down. The feeling that the success of others is at our expense, takes away from us, seems to lead inevitably to envy. The feeling that everyone can prosper, that rather than dividing up a static piece of pie, we're about to enjoy a growing pie, that, indeed, the ability of all of us to prosper depends on everyone's good feelings and efforts, is to eliminate envy. There's no occasion for envy and contempt for good performance of others when people see that everyone can succeed and benefit from a larger pie we all helped to create.
Because of the enormous effort to rebuild the former East Berlin, it's easier to avoid envy in Berlin. I also experienced a feeling of youth and possibilities in Berlin that I haven't seen elsewhere. But, as I've noted before, envy is so destructive we need to avoid it wherever we are, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. The negative emotions brought on by envy hurt the envious more than the envied. But most important, envy hurts everyone. It consumes the envious, it is disdainful of the envied and it calls into question the effort and good will of others. It suggests that success is unearned, that success should be taken away and that the fruits should be denied the successful. It creates nothing, it only tears down what others create.
I often observe envy in my daily life and I'm always disappointed that people don't think of expanding the pie, of benefiting everyone. So when I was in Berlin and watched the young and old, the rich and the poor, the Germans and the visitors looking to the future with confidence, enjoying the success of others and accepting their own value to the group, I was excited. I was heartened to see what belief in the future, in expansion of the pie, in the value of effort can do to our spirits. It certainly raised mine and I didn't see any sourness, any signs of envy in anyone else. Avoid envy, look to your own efforts and enjoy the success of everyone. Then you'll be successful, no matter how the rest of the world fares relatively.
8-19-02
Home Page 2002 Archives 2001 Archives 2000 Archives 1999 Archives