Griffin Speaks
When
I was a child I never experienced the emotion of jealousy. This is true
mainly because my father treated me as though I was royalty. I had the
best of everything that he could offer.
My failure to develop one of the strongest emotions known to man has led many people to wonder what planet I came from. Since becoming an adult I have realized that jealousy can motivate vicious revenge, spawn wars and even lead people to commit murder. Many believe that everyone is susceptible to the emotion of jealousy in one form or another. You have sibling rivalry, jealousy amongst friends, family members and people in the workplace.
My interest in this emotion that I never experienced has led me to become intrigued by the topic. I have read many books about the subject, but none has fully explained to me how I was able to escape such a human emotion. I have simply accepted the fact that I haven't got a jealous bone in my body. Thanks be to God.
In the ancient Greek epic Illiad, Zeus like myself is thought to be unaffected by the emotion of jealousy, but his wife Hera was a jealous fool. She turned his lovers into bulls and cows by casting a spell on them. In Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, the issue of jealousy was explored. The intense jealousy of Othello enabled Iago to play with Othello's mind so much that he was driven to a murderous rage. Othello's jealousy over the alleged affair of Desdemona led to the tragic death of all of the characters of the play.
My wife Debra is often intrigued by my lack of this very human emotion. I recall one day when we visited the beautiful home of Alfred Seawright. I was so excited about the beautiful home that I told Seawright's wife that I wanted to go home and burn up everything that I owned. We all had a great laugh. When Debra and I got in our car, she looked at me without a smile on her face and said, "You act like a fool!"
One day I received a call from one of my best friends informing me that he was earning two million dollars a year as a partner in a major New York Law Firm. I became so excited I took the remainder of the day off. I went to see Debra at her office and told her that we were going to Atlanta to celebrate. When I told her why we were going to celebrate, she looked at me without a smile and said, "You are a fool!"
I recall one day when Greg Jr. was watching the news and a friend of his was being recognized for an outstanding sports victory. He turned green with jealousy. He denied that he was jealous, but I could tell that his denial was erroneous. Each of my kids has fully developed this very human emotion. I am very cautious not to lavish praise on one without lavishing praise on the other.
Dr. A.G. Gaston, my first boss after I graduated from law school called me into his office one day to lecture me about jealousy. He told me that a friend of mine was jealous of me and did not have my best interest at heart. He explained to me how he lived beneath his means because it was detrimental for a black businessman dependent on the black community to live too high. I have since concluded that Dr. Gaston was correct.
In the Bible we are told that God tolerates no other gods and describes God as a jealous God. It says that he will visit the sins of the fathers upon the sons and unto the third or fourth generation. I don't know why God spared me from this very common emotion, but I am thankful that he did. To borrow a phrase from my pastor Bennie Liggins of Community Congregational Church of Christ, God has blessed me in a mighty way!
Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his earlier articles by logging on to his web page at www.greggriffin.com
