A quote: “Do you know the hallmark of a second rater? It’s resentment of another man’s achievement. Those touchy mediocrities who sit trembling lest someone’s work prove greater than their own … They envy achievement, and their dream of greatness is a world where all men have become their acknowledged inferiors.” ~~ Ayn Rand

I’ll start with a story …

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Envy isn’t considered a “deadly sin” by accident.

He knew what was coming. It might not come for a few years, it might even change, but he couldn’t count on some random thing to change the pattern.

So he planned, carefully, secretly.

And let life go on as if everything was normal.

His business had been a bigger success than most pundits predicted and certainly more than the usual naysayers who couldn’t stand him. A populace that granted celebrity status to actors and athletes finally took notice of him. It didn’t matter to him. But it mattered to others.

He did have enough friends on the downlow in high places to know that the rumblings and public fist shaking wasn’t blowhard rhetoric.

They, too, had planned.

They rolled up to his headquarters with a hundred deputies and even more reporters to find the front doors open. Offices looked like people had stepped out for a coffee break only minutes before. But when his office was entered there was nothing. Not a stitch of furniture or a scrap of paper. Just a flat screen on the wall, large red numbers on a white background.

They were furious, where was he? They wanted him handcuffed and perp marched and the reporters realized they couldn’t run the stories they had already written. They were still raging when a deputy stopped them to point at the screen where the numbers were changing. 58 … 57 … 56 …

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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license