Wild for Wilde

Now any of you who have met me have heard me mention my admirations fo the wise and witty Oscar Wilde. Everything he has ever written (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Happy Prince, to name a few) has made perfect sense to me and have never failed to make me laugh, or wish I had written those sentiments myself. He has the power to keep me captivated by his words for hours--a difficult feat for a person with the attention span of a goldfish. Now if you haven't heard of him, or have never picked up a piece of his work Do. It. Now. Get the Picture of Dorian Gray and let this 19th century writer's words leap off of the page. You wont regret it.
Now a certain quote of his has really been lingering in my mind for the past few days and it goes like this: "Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success."
I find this saying not only incredibly difficult to admit, but incredibly true. Whenever a friend is having a bad day I have the ability to feel like a superhero. Telling them jokes to make them laugh, assuring them that everything is going to be okay. I can bake them cookies, call them on the telephone, and send them reassuring Hallmark e-cards. Now this maks me a good friend right? But what about when a friend has a really successful day? Does that fact that I'm not leaping for joy because that got the lead in the school musical AND aced their math exam make me a terrible person? I think yes and no. Now I love my friends. I would do anything for them. But there always seems to be something within  me that begins to stir when I hear of one of their successes that I could never dream of. I say I'm happy for them, and I guess deep down I am. But over shadowing this facade is the fact that I am unforgivably jealous. There I said it. I get jealous of my friends. It isn't something I'm proud of but it's something everyone feels. We all just feel too terrible to say it aloud.  Now I'm not saying that I'm some crazed ego-maniac obsessed with always one-upping my friends. I'm just trying to put out there that with every relationship the ugly little green monster will always come out whether you like it or not.
This isn't something any of us are proud of, but something we really need to deal with. My new and delayed New Year's resolution is to be genuinely happy for my friends. Whether it be their new designer jeans, or academic award. I have found that many moments in my life have been tainted by the crude and heartless ways of jealousy. I really think this should be a goal for everyone. To not only be the good friend when someone is going through a rough time. But to bask in the sunlight that radiated off of their ego when they get a hot date friday night. While we on the other hand...okay let's not drag Ben and Jerry into this again.
It's human nature to be a little jealous so maybe it's time for all of us to work on our super human powers. A power that allows us to blissfully sympathize with a friend's successes.
After all, each one of us is just trying to get by ,and maybe that requires us to feel some contentment. Even if the moment isn't at all about ourselves.

This is our dear Oscar. Courtesy of thefamouspeople.com