Imitation, Admiration and Envy

"Admiration is an artful way to convert envy into mastery." - Jeffrey Davis

I don't remember who is was - perhaps H.L. Mencken - who wrote that when people are allowed to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. It can be a terrible thing, and it can be a great thing. Because, as even Thomas Jefferson noticed hundreds of years ago, imitation is how we learn.

There, unfortunately, a big difference in the way men and women imitate. Men generally imitate other men out of admiration (and such imitation can lead to excellence), the way men wear the jerseys of their favorite athlete or sports team.

Often, women imitate men out of envy, which is not a spur to excellence but destruction. "He has an easy, high-paying career," they tell themselves, "so I want one, too. As long as it's not outdoors or dirty or dangerous, of course."

They don't know they're imitating men. To them it's about "fairness" and "justice." Overthrowing the Evil Patriarchy. All that silliness.

If someone was to tell them they were imitating men out of envy, they'd have hissy fits.

The problem with envy, of course, is that you want to bring down those you envy. So women, while they want to imitate men, also want to bring them down. Which is bizarre, since it brings societal destruction.

Men don't imitate women. If they did, it's a sign of degradation.

As far as I know, the ancient Greeks were the first to notice that admiration is the benign form of envy. The destructive form of envy is, well, envy.

The latter is what women overwhelming do. Destructive envy, to bring down the other, and, unwittingly, bring down yourself.

And when someone envies there can be no gratitude - which means no happiness.

"Imitation is the foundation of our mammalian creative impulse." - Jeffrey Davis