It’s interesting how human it is for people to be jealous of others’ success. When I saw letters in The Chronicle last month complaining about Sigma Chi’s early jump on recruiting, it brought that point to my attention.
In fact, not only are we jealous, but we often even tend to hope for the misfortune of others. Take for instance the Super Bowl. Not only did Patriot fans emphatically cheer when Donavan McNabb threw an interception, but they actually wanted him to do as bad as he could. Fortunately for them he did.
Maybe that was a bad example, but think back to the middle of the 2001 NFL season when Tom Brady stepped onto the scene and how he has flourished into a dynasty-leading quarterback. What many people don’t realize is that had it not have been for the first string quarterback’s (Drew Bledsoe) sustained injury during that 2001 season, Brady may never have received his opportunity to play. Do you think that Brady wasn’t at least a little bit happy when the first-string QB went out, giving him the opportunity to shine? Or perhaps you are like me and think that Brady was saying in his prayers at night, “Please God, let one of those linebackers blow out his knee, giving way for me to take over and lead our team to three super bowls in four years.”
All right, it’s almost unfathomable to think that a genuine guy like Tom Brady is capable of something like that, but what about, say, a beauty pageant? Miss California slips and falls and immediately, Miss Delaware gives a Tiger Woods fist pump knowing that her chances of winning just became that much better. How about the concertmaster violinist who was taken out by hit men hired by the second chair? Wait, no that was figure skating, Tonya Harding on Nancy Kerrigan.
You can’t tell me that you haven’t watched a reality TV show and hoped that the girl with the guy with the lame tribal tattoos or the whiney voice girl gets voted off. Or how about our very own Utes here on campus?
Walking on ice, it’s as if I almost root for a nasty fall. How sick am I? Not as sick as a gentleman I spoke with who said, casualties aside, he wished he could witness first-hand (but remaining safe himself) something like the tsunami in Asia or a plane crash because he thinks the sight of them are cool.
So what if a fraternity gets more people to rush than you? If you truly wanted to strengthen Greek Row, the last thing you should do is speak down on it, let alone print misinformed rubbish, I got enough of that on my mission thank you. Optimism produces results, not pessimism. So let’s start cheering for our foes simply hoping that our friends can perform that much better. I think we demonstrate this better here at the “U” than at the school down south. After all, we established the Keep-Gary-Crowton.com and they the Fire-Crowton.com.
“Good for you,” “I’m happy for you,” “You’re the best” and “You’re so hot right now” are terms that aren’t being used enough (well maybe that last one is). But in all seriousness, if we start to genuinely praise people for their successes and hope that others can rebound from error, the lack of trust that is increasing among people in society will go down. So let’s start. Right now. Wait, What does Anna Kornikova see in Enrique Iglesias anyway? OK, now.