When Admiration Becomes Fatal

We could not avoid appreciating unique qualities other individuals have. We appreciate the slender body physique of a friend who does not even exert an effort to work out. We recognize the silky complexion that God has bestowed to an acquaintance. We wonder at the richness of ideas a colleague has in expressing his opinions during a board meeting. We are in awe of how eloquent an exposition was written by a stranger in the blog world. We marvel at the strength of the connection between two lovers. Whatever form it is, we had definitely experienced admiration towards beautiful, excellent or marvelous people.

All of a sudden, the admiration overturned into envy. We are now green-eyed with envy. We suddenly find ourselves hating bosom friends silently, getting irked at the slightest remark which was innocently and honestly shared. We despise the act of constructive criticism and look into the archives of our minds the flaws that critic has and hurl surreptitiously counterblasts. We start to throw precarious glances because we could not achieve the aesthetic qualities that woman has. We panic at the lack of words to equal with that colleague who has an unearthly air about him. We attempt to seduce and wreck only to prove that there is no such strong bond that stays forever.

We may not be aware that we have passed this stage when admiration keeled over. This is when admiration becomes fatal. We should not idolize too much and forget the entity that we are – unique in our own special little ways. We should enrich the qualities that we have be it physical, mental, or moral, and try to impart them with the objective of motivating others to better their personality. Along with this, we should, instead of bragging explicitly or tacitly, be magnanimous of our own petty successes.

Very true, even though others would deny, admiration lets us forget about ourselves and be focused solely to that person or those persons that we admire. We tend to forget that these people can be just as ordinary as we are during moments of frailties. It is because we are all human prone to mistakes, misgivings, or helplessness. We are all human subject to God’s power, mercy and love.

Admiration should not be a way to venerate fellow human beings because worship should only be devoted to God. As always, excessive hero worship insults the magnificence of God. We can admire to a level that is just enough to motivate us to a value-added individual.