Evening High School - Owl Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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114 THE OWL They are dead, We are not in competition with them. But when he Who has been running behind us in the race, or perhaps was just even with us, suddenly shows a burst of speed and forges ahead leaving us Way behind, then there rises up a feeling of jealousy and animosity and We look for some lamentable cause to appease our Wounded pride. The lack of a magnanimous spirit is the cause of many festering ills. Envy has ruined many families, the story of Cinderella and her jealous sisters has never needed a commentary to explain its meaning. The unreasonable extravagance to Which some people go in their daily life and which is the curse of our social life of today is a child of envy or jealously. We may start out in life With a sen- sible standard of living, most young couples do this, but someone of our neighbors lives a little higher and faster than we had counted on, ofcourse We cannot let the Jones family out-do us, so We speed up a bit. We must always- keep one step ahead if possble, or at least be on the same level. We do not Want to be outdone but must live in houses just as large, Wear clothes that are as fine, travel in automobiles just as speedy and modern in lines, belong to equally as good clubs, etc: Jealousy is the element which embitters and cuts our American society into groups with class hatred. It is jealousy which has given all of the nations of the World the jitters. Each one looks for power and suprem- acy. Each one desires greater possessions. Each one is covetous of the other's goods. What this jealousy has done to nations has been Written across the pages of his- tory with the blood of millions of fine young men and Women. Nations sacrificed their manhood and their ma- terial Wealth to gain a little superiority which Was born of jealousy. Jealousy was present even among the Disciples for even on the night When He ate the Last Supper With them, they contended among themselves Who should be account- ed greatest among them. Yes, there is jealousy even among those Who stand for higher and nobler things in life. There is jealousy in the church and every organized effort

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THE OWL 113 knew of Stanton's feeling toward him, knew with what terms he described him and yet he made Stanton Secre- tary of War because he was the best man for the place. Years later as Stanton stood by the bed of the martyred President, looking at the silent face, he said, There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever known. School girls who are easily teased are soon discovered and made the butt of tantalizing boys, so also all conceiv- able irritations soon find out the touchy and resentful per- son. When annoyances come, our greatest danger lies, not in the wrong done us, but in the wrong We shall do to ourselves. Christ says, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you. This at nrst seems impossible and yet as a matter of fact, it is the most practical and rational rule for daily living that could be laid down. The old Adam cried, Vengeance An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The new Adam, The Christ, cried, Love,' Love thine enemies, do good to them that hate you. All of us deal with three types of people: folk less prosperous than we are, less capable, less infiuentialg equals, whom we easily meet upon a common level, super- iors, who easily surpass and overshadow us. These last consiitute a critical moral problem for us. They are more earned than We are, more fortunate, more charming, more influential, they achieve what we aspire to but miss, they receive promotion more swiftly, are rated higher in school and receive more praise among the public. All these things we desire for ourselves but superiors receive them. How very diflicult they make it for us to love them. Most folk can get along real well with those who are beneath themselves and whom they can lead. They can get along tolerably well with those who are their equals, but with superiors there creeps in that green eyed demon of jeal- ousy. To be sure, superiority in others is not always a cause for jealousy. We are not jealous of Livingstone, Florence Nightingale, or Philip Brooks. Persons like them awaken in us aspiration, not envy. The reason for this is plain.

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THE OWL 115 for philanthropy. These places in which men are to serve unselflshly and out of true devotion to the Master find that there are those who have a touch of the green eyed demon within them. There are those who will give ten dollars because someone else gave ten dollars and they want to be equal with them. What fools we are to let this vice steal away, as it slways does, our independence, our happiness, our indi- viduality, our usefulness! WE MAKE OURSELVES THE SLAVES OF ALL WI-IOM WE ENVY. Their superiority does not do us harm, but our jealousy does. Goethe was right: Against the great superiority of another there is no remedy but love. We ought to love the superiority by which others surpass us as though it were a free banquet to which every one could go and eat and drink deeply. We ought to learn to love even our enemies for we build great strength of character thereby. There is another, may we call it a vice, which creeps into our lives and keeps us from fulfilling this greatest of all commandments and thereby destroys in a measure our fullest joy in life. Perhaps it is the most universal of all these vices, it is prejudice. This man hates the J ewsg that man has a deep feeling against the Romanistsg and this other one cannot stand a protestant. Here is a man who is quite sure that all Japanese should be wiped from the face of the earth because they are treacherous. Another man thinks the Chinese are the future menace of the world because some great man said, beware of the yellow peril . Many people are thoroughly convinced that all Germans are possessed with a demon for power. Others hate the so called sneaky Frenchman. We lump groups of human beings into one indis- criminate mass of confusion and make sweeping classi- fication of them without full understanding. We tag the groups with nicknames and then think that we are real smart. In fact we have displayed a moronic insight when we do this. The employer of today is apt to look upon all of his employees in the same light as he looks upon a labor