Envy

Envy seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in our country. On the political scene, class envy seems to have taken center-stage. Suddenly, if you have worked hard and earned a lot of money, you are supposed to feel bad about it. It isn't fair for you to have more that the guy next to you. Don't you feel bad that you can afford a new car, but he can't?

Several games of the NCAA Basketball Tournament were held here in Kansas City last week, and Aaron and I attended. Saturday's games included Memphis vs. Maryland and Oklahoma vs. Michigan. The Sprint Center was packed, and it was fun to be a part of March Madness, though I could have done without the die-hard Memphis fans behind us. I knew we were in trouble when the guy directly behind me yelled "TRAVEL!" each of the first three Maryland possessions. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, because perhaps he is accustomed to attending junior high girls basketball games where the opposing team travels or double dribbles each time down the court. Surely that was the case.

It quickly became clear, however, that this guy had a chip on his shoulder. His team is very good, but they belong to Conference USA, which is not exactly known as a basketball powerhouse. Maryland, on the other hand, is in the ACC, which historically has been one of the toughest basketball conference in the country. In an interview last week, Maryland's star player, Greivis Vasquez, said of Memphis, "They'd have a losing record in the [ACC] - probably win all of their games outside the league, losing record in the league." This did not sit well with the Memphis fans, and the fans behind us in particular.

As Memphis beat up on Maryland, the fans behind us repeatedly made comments (in Southern accents) that the ACC is overrated, and Memphis does not get respect. As Aaron pointed out, they have a legitimate argument, because Memphis does schedule extremely tough non-conference games; however, their conference schedule is a cake walk. There is a reason that they have not lost a conference game in 3 years. At the end of one tirade about respect, the guy behind me that did a majority of the whining cried, "It's not fair!" If he did not have a grown man's voice and body, I would have thought he was a 9-year-old.

When the Memphis game was over, I was relieved that these fans would not have a dog in the fight for the OU-Michigan game, so we could watch the game in peace. I was wrong. It turns out that not only was the guy jealous of other conferences, he was also jealous of great players on other teams (i.e. Blake Griffin). From listening to him, you wouldn't know that Griffin is a phenomenal player.

This example made it apparent to me that envy is everywhere; Saturday I witnessed "Conference Envy." Instead of enjoying the success of a great basketball program, all I heard was complaining, despite the fact that Memphis was ahead the entire game. It is all part of our "woe is me, that is not fair" society that is starting to drive me crazy. Blake Griffin shouldn't have to feel bad for being an awesome basketball player, and successful people shouldn't have to feel bad about their success.

I love Chris Gardner's story, as he told in his book "The Pursuit of Happyness." He saw other people that had success, and instead of saying "that's not fair," he decided to work hard to achieve that same success himself. However, he did achieve that success in the financial industry, so maybe it doesn't count. He probably did not deserve the money he made, and should give it to the government. That sounds about right.