Nothing Compares, Nothing Compares...#insertSineadVoice

"Comparison is the thief  of reason," said no famous person ever - I just made it up.  Though a former US president said something similar one time ... so maybe whad ad happened was I didn't make it up but just forgot what had been originally said.

But whether it's the theft of reason or the "[theft] of joy" (Roosevelt's actual expression), comparison robs us of something... or does it?

Is it something we can avoid doing?  Why do so many of us do it?
Even Cain did it; and he was trying to please God, well maybe not so much - considering what he did and all.

But seriously, how else can one excel unless one's performance is measured against that of another?  Is comparative analysis so bad?  Like most things in life 'it all depends' on what the end goal happens to be. 

NOW

THEN

Afterall, I probably wouldn't have realised how jacked up my brows were until I weighed them against those of the TV/ magazine beauties (and I think I look better for it). 


I wouldn't have had an ideal weight goal until I compared my waistline to the clothes available in my favourite stores (or was it because my doctor here told me what weight I should get to so I perhaps could blend in with the local women? LOL)

Nowadays I can hardly go a day without comparing my current country of abode to that of my origin.  For instance, in all public schools, every student is given the opportunity to (I won't say 'made to') do extracurricular activities.  This is possible because the schools (through the government of course) supplies the materials/equipment for the students to practise such.  That's just amazing!  Now of course the students can't necessarily refuse to praticipate - but c'mon, unless a person has medical impediments why wouldn't they want to learn something?
I look on in envy because in my childhood my country did not have (well it still doesn't) have the resources to make even half of that possible... Can you imagine if we could?  A dah time deh wi wudda tallawah!  (I'm not gonna take on the 'struggles make you work harder' advocates because while that may bear a modicum of truth, many who suffer do so because all the hard work in the world can't provide opportunities where there are none.)

What can a comparison to this country achieve?  Well I'm willing to bet my chocolate chip scone (then I gripe about my waistline) that good could come of  it if the result is to provide more learning opportunities to children .  Opportunities that have little to do with the affluence of their parents.

It's when comparisons become unreasonable and irrational, to the point of making a person unhappy, or worse, stark raving mad, is when Houston's got a problem.  When I think of those who've undergone extensive cosmetic surgeries and have considerably altered their appearances to the point where they run the risk of not recognising themselves in a mirror, I think of people who've taken this comparison thing totally out of context.


But if after I've compared myself to someone else and desire what they have I'm spurred into productivity, that's good (afta mi naaah lick dem dung and tek dem tings - a dem deh wi call grudgeful an badmin').  Furthermore, desiring what another has is not a bad thing if the end product is just (and that's not just me talking off the top of my head, Romans 11:14 says something very familiar.

So President Roosevelt was probably thinking 'grudefulness and badmin' as being the thieves of joy' he just had never been to Jamaica so never quite knew how to say it. LOLOL