Neighbor’s envy, owner’s pride

“Neighbor’s envy, owner’s pride”!! Did it ring any bell? Yes, this was the tagline used for Onida TV advertisement in 1980s in India. This was quite a catchy slogan at that time, and surely, it worked for Onida. Well, I am not going to talk about the Onida televisions here, but, the phrase has a special meaning associated with it. I will talk in more detail about how we can use this phrase to think positively in life and work towards a better future.

The meaning of the slogan in the advertisement was straight-forward. The one who has the Onida TV, is proud of owning it. And the neighbor, who doesn’t own one, is envious of the other who owns it. Envy!! This four-letter word is small, but very,very powerful. It’s a very strong emotion, which can work in both positive and negative ways. Being envious of someone owning something can make you work hard in life to achieve it, or, it can turn you into a maniac or even a criminal if the mind works blindly on achieving something, without thinking of the consequences.

But the point is, is that emotion necessary? Well, we can’t control what we think about, so necessity is definitely not in picture here. But, we can definitely control the outcome of what we do if such an emotion arises in our life. Working hard to achieve something is good, but not to an extent which makes you forget that you have a life which you were living. It is good to have goals, dreams, desires, but it is not good to run behind something just for the sake of it or just because it is owned by someone else.

We should understand that there are always two sides to a coin. Sometimes we meet people who seem to have the perfect life. But, in reality, we are not aware of the hardships that they faced, or the problems they are currently facing in life. All that glitters is not gold. There are people who have achieved a lot in life, but when you start listening to their life stories, you understand that you may never want to follow their journey, or work towards doing something similar. They might look to have the best of everything, but they have lost a lot along the way.

We should try to avoid being the envious neighbor, but rather strive to be the owner of our own life. Let’s make our own goals, and work on them. Life will be much simpler. Till then.

Adios Amigos

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