There are days I ask myself, "What IS IT with humanity, that we feel bad for the poor person who succumbs to some misfortune, but ENJOY it & almost CELEBRATE IT when a rich person experiences hardship?"
This last week I had the opportunity to observe - and learn - some more about this strange quirk of human behaviour. Not once, but THREE times. And when the universe nudges me with ANYTHING three times, I sit back and listen. It's a pact I've made with myself.
The first issue was all over the Thai news. We had massive flooding here in the north of Thailand as the tail of Super Typhoon Noru collided with the annual western monsoon rains. The media was all over community hardship, helping each other, good vibe and good news stories a plenty.
Until this one.
Some born-with-a-silver-spoon local cafe owner who drives a flashy bright yellow Lamborghini got caught in deep water near my house, and LOST a piece of his pride and joy. It caused DAYS of shares and memes as people ENJOYED his misfortune. I saw one poster challenge his right to claim he was a victim of the floods. Apparently only poor people are allowed to be the 'victims' of natural disasters.
The second issue was also flood and car related, but much more personal. My older and very much less glamorous truck had overheating issues - driving through the flood water on that same stretch of highway as the Lambo apparently dislodged the cooling fan, which caused radiator overheating challenges and necessitated a night at the garage.
I walked home from the garage through my very local & gossipy small Thai village, in the rain. An old lady I know well called out to me, asking what the problem was, and I yelled back to say my truck was being fixed. Well, she and her older Thai grandma friend started to laugh with delight, and apparently view ME in much the same way as the internet viewed Mr Yellow Lambo. It would appear wealth is an utterly subjective idea. The GLEE in these women's voices was actually painful to hear - they were ENJOYING my wet and bedraggled self being brought low.
It didn't feel nice.
It made me do a whole lot of PONDERING about envy. And how gloating over another's misfortune is really just a manifestation of deep-seated and possibly repressed envy. Or maybe not-so repressed.
Which led me back to a wonderful truth from Abraham-Hicks...
It CLICKED with me that when we gloat about others (richer others) losing things, being heavily taxed, and enduring hardship, we're CLICKING with the vibration of lack. And that we can NEVER be in full abundance ourselves while we deny it to others.
The very same afternoon that reality CLICKED for me, I had my 3rd demonstration.
A friend who owns a boutique gelati brand here in Thailand was THRILLED to post about the misfortune of Haagen-Dazs here in Thailand, who had to destroy a huge amount of product due to an imported ingredient contamination problem.
Haagen Dazs Icecream Worth thb 12 million Destroyed
This guy was doing a virtual happy-dance all over facebook that a major and well known global competitor had taken a BIG financial hit. He used it to slam an opponent in a negative way, and as a stepping stone to blow his own trumpet.
My first reaction? 1. Go and buy a Haagen Dazs out of solidarity and 2. probably don't buy from the gloater. At the very least, no longer recommend the gloater. Cos it's simply not an energy I choose to align with.
My Take Home (and not the ice-cream kind)? Be AWARE of it when the misfortune of others ignites a spark in me, and USE that awareness of my own fears to pivot my thinking and focus on what I DO want and CHOOSE for myself. Not on what happened to others.
If there's one common thread - one theme - that runs through my whole self-improvement journey, it's awareness. Of what I think, what I choose, what I share and what I align with.
My self-improvement challenge is to learn to consistently delight in the success of others and to know that the only block for those things coming to me lies within myself.
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