Jealousy or Self Pride – Which is more justified?

Jealousy, I believe, is a feeling of losing supremacy to somebody better than you. It makes you envious of the quality of somebody else and compels you to compete him/her to improve/increase your fan following. However, there is a thin foil of difference between being jealous of somebody and being proud about you, assuming the fact that both these feelings are derived from the same source.

Jealousy is more of an open broadcast of frustration with an element of private gain in it. Jealousy makes you lose your integrity and consciously drives you to defame your rival to gain your self-importance. It inculcates a proxy cold war attitude between you and your “opponent”, if I may say. On the other hand, Pride is a strong function of self respect not intimidated by the performance of your peers or adversaries. A performance backed pride is a stronger phenomenon than jealousy as it does not negatively impact your relationships with people and at the same time maintains your authenticity.

To be backed by examples, the feeling of jealousy in an employed person will always leave him unsatisfied given the fact that his antagonist is placed in a better position. Pride, on the other hand, will even leave an unemployed person relieved, for he will always believe that there is something larger in store for him given the fact that he is talented.

Many would dispute that pride is a negative factor and should never be a vital component of the human personality. I would like to reiterate that the pride that I am talking about is not a hyperbolic demonstration but an accomplishment motivated exhibit. Such pride would place you above others without being obsessed and at the same time maintain your innocence and character.

In nutshell, I could say that jealousy is an outcome of unhealthy comparison and hence responsive. But, pride, only if provoked from the individual’s perspective, is reactive.