Vices and virtue

I am not much of a moralist. But I do occasionally wander into that field.

Envy and jealousy. Vices.

Jealousy really is its own punishment. That fear of losing something, or more usually, someone, valuable, to a third party. Unfortunately I have known that feeling. Like drinking green battery acid. And humiliating because you know it comes from weakness and fear. It's up there with deep depression and acute anxiety as horrible feelings.

Envy. Well, I think I experience a half-envy or a half-hearted envy sometimes. If it means wanting something that someone else has so that you have it instead of them, then I don't feel that often at all. My envy is about wanting it, too. They don't lose what they have, but I get to have it as well. Semi-invidia?

Sometimes semi-envy can be a motivation to change, so that you actually get for yourself what others, too, have. Sometimes it's just an actionless excuse for self-pity.