{"id":3725,"date":"2012-08-13T06:59:28","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T13:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=3725"},"modified":"2012-08-13T15:24:18","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T22:24:18","slug":"envy-more-chasing-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/08\/13\/envy-more-chasing-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Envy\u2013More Chasing Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Detail from Seven Deadly Sins\u2013\u2013Envy<\/em>, Hieronymus Bosch<\/h6>\n

Here’s a verse in Ecclesiastes I don’t much like:<\/p>\n

And I saw that all labor and all achievement springs from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after wind.<\/strong>*<\/p>\n

Really? Is there nothing we do that isn’t motivated by envy?<\/p>\n

Or, if that’s the case, is there a time when envy isn’t negative? We have to be doing something! Laziness leads to ruin.<\/p>\n

Maybe a touch of competition is just the thing to make the difference between couch potato and furniture designer.<\/p>\n

And who, in any field, isn’t aware of the champions in that field, living or dead, that set the standards for excellence? Anything wrong with that?<\/p>\n

Unless it undermines our tranquility . . . without which life isn’t much fun.<\/p>\n

And who is my neighbor? The one I’m competing with?<\/p>\n

But, I say, I’m not competing, he is! There have been moments when I’ve recognized that I’m the cause of someone else’s jealousy. I don’t like that. I want to say, \u201cLighten up, there’s enough to go around.\u201d Or, \u201cOkay, it’s my time now; it’ll be your time after awhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

But we want it to be our time all the time.<\/p>\n

In the human race, can’t we all win? There are plenty of prizes, just different categories. If I can win my particular race by just a fraction of a second, well, that’s still a goal worth striving for. Isn’t it?<\/p>\n

Or is it just more chasing after wind?<\/p>\n

The wind always wins!<\/p>\n

I’m jealous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________________________<\/p>\n

*Ecclesiastes 4:4<\/p>\n

Next: The Value of a Good Name.<\/em> Coming Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s one none of us are guilty of, except that Ecclesiastes tells us we all are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3725"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3999,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3725\/revisions\/3999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}