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Don't succumb to jealousy
Vic Barlow13/ 8/2008
AN OLD farmer friend died recently. I hardly recognised him in his latter years from the garrulous joker I’d befriended two decades earlier. His once mischievous sense of humour had been replaced by a sour cynicism.
I’d enjoyed his company, his knowledge of the countryside was monumental but there was always one topic guaranteed to cast a cloud. Any mention of his younger brother could spoil any conversation.
I didn’t really know his brother but from what I knew he seemed like any other hard working farmer but in his mind he was a demon.
When the younger brother raised a couple of thousand pounds for a local charity he dismissed it as ‘guilty conscience’; an invitation to Christmas lunch the rebuffed as a ‘joke’ and any birthday gift as ‘a bribe’.
My pal hadn’t spoken a civil word to his brother as long as I could remember and I swear had his brother rescued him from a burning building he would have branded it a publicity stunt.
"Do you know what all that bitterness was about?" asked one of his childhood friends shortly after his demise.
"I never had a clue," I replied honestly.
"They both inherited family money. He spent his but the younger brother invested and did very nicely. He never forgave him."
"Why?"
"He was jealous."
It was tragic to learn that years of irrational jealousy had alienated the farmer from family and friends and soured so much of his adult life.
I made a mental note never to succumb.
The views expressed on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express
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Dont succumb to jealousy is one moral Vic, the other is dont live in the past and the final one is dont make money your god (or you'll end up like Boss Hogg)
The Satisfied Customer (Feeling reflective in Sydney)
13/08/2008 at 12:00