Of Human Jealousy – Sunday, August 29, 1943
When anyone undertakes to catalogue the predominant vices of men, always well toward the top of the list is the prevalent human failing called “jealousy.” Jealousy has played a prominent role in many, if not most, of the troubles of men, and is so closely associated with some of our other notable vices that sometimes it is rather difficult to isolate. It is a first cousin of envy, which in turn is a close relative of covetousness, and all of them are near of kin to hate and bitterness and the broken lives and sorrows that follow.
Together they are much like the colors of the spectrum, each of which merges imperceptibly into the other, all being part of the same picture. Certainly jealousy is an indispensable ingredient in the plots of most novels and of the stereotyped movie scenario triangle. It is also a seemingly inseparable component of the drama of real life, of which fiction and playwriting are but a reflection. It is no doubt as old as human nature itself, and the contest for power in the heavens probably means, in the last analysis, that Lucifer was jealous because of the power and position of someone else and so the pattern was established and has since been followed altogether too many times.
There are one or two specific things we should know about jealousy before we permit it to enter our own lives. One is that to give way to it is virtually to concede inferiority. A man wouldn’t be jealous of someone else if he felt adequate himself, and so an admission of jealousy is an admission of inferiority. Another thing we should know about it is that its most certain victim is the person who gives way to it.
It is true that a good many innocent lives have been ruined by jealousy, but it is also true that no one who gives way to it has ever himself escaped its ill effects. It is a self-inflicted punishment, destroyer of peace and internal quiet—a destroyer of love. It is both a cause and a symptom of lack of trust. Too often it enters even the family circle and is not reserved for the stranger alone. It makes enemies of brothers and of natural friends. And this we should know and remember before we tolerate it in ourselves—and pay its terrible price: The jealousy of others directed toward us, disturbing as it is, is not nearly so damaging as jealousy generated within ourselves and directed toward others. One of the most satisfying conquests of life is the overcoming of jealousy, and he who has done it is blessed beyond most men.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Aug. 29, 1943, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1943.
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August 29, 1943
Broadcast Number 0,732