Escalation
of Feelings
The following words occasionally heard
from a person of younger generation evoked my great curiosity: “Envy-jealousy-hate.”
I made an investigation and found it had already become a vogue phrase.
In the ancient times people knew
that each creature in nature has its strengths and weaknesses. That’s why we
have such a saying, “A foot may sometimes prove short while an inch may prove
long.” However, things are quite different in actual life.
On the social scales those at
lower level envy those on the higher, especially in regard of riches. It is not
rare now that a millionaire pops up overnight. What is visible to the public is
the harvesting, not the plowing. The rapid development of information technique
has made it possible to change ways and means of gathering riches so that they
became vague and complicated, no longer familiar to the public eye. Thus it is
easy for envy to turn into jealousy, especially when people witness those
around them suddenly became rich. Inevitably they will be greatly affected by
jealousy. They will complain, blame others and curse fate.
Envy-jealousy-hate shows up a clear
picture of the escalation of a person’s feelings. Nowadays in either officialdom,
academic circles or business world competitions are becoming fiercer and
fiercer. The cruelty of competitions is being felt deeper and deeper by those
who are not accustomed to it. It makes people nervous who have relaxed for many
years. Those who are quiet at a loss will certainly be caught in the net of
envy-jealousy-hate.
It’s much better for one to
reconcile oneself to the status quo or exert oneself to catch up than fall a
victim to envy-jealousy-hate. Why? Because the ancient already had a wise
summary: things all have two opposites that are mutual complementary: “Pure-impure;
large-small; long-short; rapid-slow; joy-sorrow; hard-soft; early-late;
meticulous-sketchy etc.,” all these do not deny or vanquish each other; they
co-exist and complement each other.
（郑达 译） |
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