Envy is a malady more corrosive than Coronavirus.
It is as heavy in its poisonous path as the name sounds. It is dangerous and deadly and consumes its owner without mercy.
Envy is the wicked partner of Jealousy, but by far more ruinous, more mischievous, more insidious and more intrigue fuelled.
All religious and spiritual literatures condemn Envy in strongest terms and an envious person is considered worse than the most dreaded Devil.
Envy poisons the mind and body of its carrier and destroys the joy of those who are unfortunate to share a life or home with the misanthropist.
The origin of envy can be found in lack of contentment and satisfaction with one’s fate or one’s state as ordered by the Creator.
An envious person is never at peace with himself. He wishes every other person is at the same level of low self esteem as he is. At home with siblings, in neighborhood with fellow residents, at school with colleagues, at work with colleagues and superiors and on the world stage generally an envious person wishes he is the one occupying the position of the envied.
It never occurs to an envious person that hippopotamus cannot be competing for beauty with the white ram or graceful lion, or the man, you know who, to be competing with Mohammed Ali’s pretty face.
Whenever a luxurious car drives by, the envious man becomes downcast. He is never happy at someone’s success and the more prosperous his neighbour becomes the sadder he is with a face twisted and blackened.
A friend’s wife once quipped that it takes the grace of God for one to accept the success and superiority of a colleague. It really is.
An African aphorism has put it succinctly, ‘there can never be an end to a quarrel provoked by envy nor would an envious person ever state the real cause of the quarrel’.
Mankind must find a way to wean the envious animal of his seemingly incurable malady, a chronic addiction borne out of bad blood and ill breeding.
Envy has caused incalculable damages in interpersonal relationships and wrecked havoc on many homes, companies and establishments. Resort to metaphysical and diabolical engagements is very common in the wretched life of the envious and until such malevolent characters breathe their last, success, meaningful and enduring success, never comes their way.
They live a life watching others grow and prosper while they remain fixated with tall dreams of Champagne appetite on Coca Cola income.
*The Jagun Oodua, Akogun Tola Adeniyi.
