One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others. ---Robert Heinlein
Robert Heinlein, along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, were the "Big Three" in science fiction writing during the mid-to-late twentieth century. Heinlein, renowned for novels such as Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (click on the titles to read my 2014 reviews) was also an ardent libertarian...but more principled about it than the phony politicians and rabble claiming that identity these days (but only when it is personally convenient for them). Heinlein was a strong believer in personal responsibility for one's own life...to him anything less was self-victimization and servitude to others' agendas. Do I agree with everything he's said or written? No way, yet the above quote of his is quite profound. I've discovered that folks who put down others for achieving a success that perhaps they wanted for themselves have a tendency to be of this "woe-is-me, I'm a victim" mentality, and jealousy often crops up: here's another Heinlein quote to that effect: "A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity". Part of being a mature adult is displaying a dignified spirit of good sportsmanship, and not just when your own side wins. Sore losers are perennial victims, glorifying in their own imagined martyrdom and seeing themselves as the center of everything...know of anyone in the news the past few years who fits this description? I've been watching the Wimbledon tennis tournament for the last few mornings and noticed something: in EVERY match, no matter how hard-fought, after they were over, the loser congratulated the winner and the winner in turn graciously consoled the loser. Too bad some of our political "leaders" can't behave like that...
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