It was a cool, brisk afternoon on the Oregon coast. The beach was surprisingly vacant; only two men present on the sand. On man, perhaps thirty five years old, comes here to dig for clams day after day after day. The other, much older man, also comes to the ocean for clamming - but his visits are less frequent. On this particular day, as the sun began to set, the two men - strangers to each other - packed their supplies. As they began their trek off the beach, the young man, with a long look on his face, peered into the other man's clam basket. It seemed that his own efforts had produced little, while the older man carried a heavy basket, full of fresh clams. The young man, hoping to be given a portion of his competitors haul, said, "How many clams did you find? Many?" It was evident that the younger man had caught less than usual. The older gentleman stopped walking, looked down at his basket, raised his gaze toward the face of the other man and flatly said, "Looking in my basket isn't going to do you any good.".
This story is an example of one man being envious of what another has. The truth is, jealousy is a waste of emotion. Being jealous of what another person has is like waiting for rain in a desert, hopeless and disappointing. Jealousy will not change what you have, nor will it make you content with what you have. Envy is one of those emotions that is very difficult to avoid, almost impossible. Though everyone has been jealous at some point, it is possible to turn those feelings of jealousy into motivation to do better.
Most of the time, people are jealous of money or tangible items. However, it is very common to be jealous of non tangible things such as people. Personally, I don't think I've ever been jealous over a person, but I have been jealous of what other people have. It is difficult to pick a specific incident, but in general I have been covetous. I have been jealous of money and physical objects.
