Jealousy

It seems that there are a lot of things to be jealous about in the world around us. We can be jealous of the super rich people out there who are able to buy anything they want without worrying how they'll be able to afford their next meal. We can be jealous of the super smart people who seem to have their brains prewired to be able to understand every single thing you tell them. We tend to be jealous of people who have something, especially when that something is what we want.

Is jealousy a good thing though? I personally can't see any form of jealousy that can be taken into a good form. If you are jealous of the rich, most people will just try and degrade the rich in order to 'bring them down to your level.' This can be done by causing a scandal, revealing secrets, or being extremely happy when something goes bad with the rich. You can also be jealous because no matter how you attempt to get that crazy amount of money, it always seems out of your grasp. But do you have the right to be jealous? Are you not happy that the other person was able to become rich? Are you not excited that they do not have to worry about feeding their family anymore? You may turn around and say that you really don't care because you don't know the person, but how about if you did?! If your best friend suddenly won the lotto, would you be jealous of them, and is that jealousy rightly placed? I feel instead of being jealous, you should be proud that your friend no longer needs to worry about their life. That, as long as the money was used properly, your friend will be able to support their family and actually pursue the things they desire. Isn't that something that we all dream of?

How about jealousy of the really smart? This is probably where I fit in, because I tend to be jealous of the really smart. But do we have the right to be jealous of the knowledgable? Isn't the point of discovering new things in order to understand the universe a little better? Should it really matter who discovers the next smallest particle, or the newest theory in math? It may be hard to see those around you succeeding in academics, but is that a valid enough reason to be jealous of them? We are all put on the planet, and we all hope to learn. I feel we should be happy of the people who end up learning more than we do because then they may be able to further our understanding of the universe. That one day may turn into us becoming a much more sophisticated species and be able to do things we had never imagined before. The main reason, I feel, that we become jealous is that because we would like our names to be written down in history books instead of others' name.

So in essence my question is, is there a reason to ever be jealous and to actually act on it? I am not denying that people get jealous, but I am wondering if there is ever a valid reason to be jealous and then actually take that jealousy to an extreme (such as stealing from the rich, and keeping it from yourself; taking ideas from the smart, and publishing it as your own; etc.). Is that ever permissable?

Inquisitively,
-Aram the Garmo