Cheers to envy

“Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed.”

– Bertrand Russell (English Logician and Philosopher 1872-1970)

I hate to admit it, but I have envied. I envied just the other day. I was on Le Facebook and whilst looking at a friend’s photos I got a little green (and not in the good old St. Patrick’s sort of way). They look so chipper and dandy in their fancy shoes and I have a fresh hole in mine. Whatever it was that made me feel comparatively less than awesome is not of importance. The fact that it occurred at all, now that is important.

Kudos goes to my best friend yet again for pointing out a crucial fact in this scenario. She once experienced a similar feeling on Facebook and with a second thought realized the falseness of the whole thing. On such social networks, people are representing themselves in the best way they can think of. And we should. Why would you voluntarily display your shortcomings? So every statement posted for commentary and every photo given up to ‘friendly’ viewing is selective. The selectivity ranges from one individual to the next, some don’t censor as much as others. I personally lack the carefulness of discretion. I don’t quite recommend it.

Others, many many others scrutinize over the fine details of each photo. They make certain that they are reflected in a flattering fashion and that the appearance of happiness (or its elements) are linked to them in some way. It is a promotional tool to say the least. We make an effort to look good for the people who look. You never know who’s looking. There are a number of ways in which we may want to appear: successful, beautiful, intelligent, funny, loveable, cool or any other positive characteristic. And this is not a bad thing. Imitating an ideal quality is one means of attaining it. Whether it is a lesser means by which to acquire traits sought after, is your choice to make. I am sent by the gods of Facebook to tell everyone not to envy anyone of their ‘friends’ or ‘friend’s friends’. Its plain surreal.

Your own ‘profile’ highlights your life and skips the mundane pages in the middle. So I guarantee that a friend of yours thinks you have the greatest something, and wishes they could have that too. I’ll refund you all your Facebooking if you can prove me wrong. Someone pretty damn smart sitting on his lawn once said ‘the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’. I would tell him to find the greenest parts of his own and forget the other side’s altogether.

Cheers! Now go have yourself a green pint.