Gloating biting dog in the manger

During my lifetime, I have not dedicated myself to this struggle of the ~~African~~ people. I have only dedicated myself to the struggle of an individual person-myself.

I haven’t fought against white domination, nor have I fought against black domination. Unless black represents evil, and in that case I have sometimes fought very hard against it. And white domination is goodness and purity, and I think I have fought against it by sometimes just letting the black evil carry me along fightlessly.

I have (though) cherished the ideal of an empathetic and loving society in which all persons live together in understanding and reciprocal compassion.

It is an ideal which I cannot hope to live for and achieve - it would be a vain hope (I know) and which would not be achieved.

(But) if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am not prepared to die. Period. No one is prepared to die for it.

How do I know this? Because of schadenfreude. Thatr German word. Its literal translation is “Harm-Joy”. The feeling of great joy and pleasure which one experiences when you see another fail or suffer misfortune.

Imagine that.

But wait. There is something nastier. Yes there is. Which kills and buries my “ideal”. The word for it has not yet even been coined. A nastier breed of people. A special group of people that go out of their way to create misfortunes and pain for others, and rejoice once it happens.

Scenario - Colleague 1 donates a piece of fruit during the company lunch break- lunch is provided for by the company - to Colleague 2. It is a problem with Colleague 3 who only has their own piece. Colleague 3 would rather Colleague 2 not take the donated piece. They would rather it rot or be thrown away, than Colleague 2 get it. And Colleague 3 does not shut up. They speak up. Make such a fuss about it, that Colleague 1 actually has to take back the piece of fruit, or be labeled something nasty. Can you imagine that? Then Colleague 3 is fine, and say “that is fair”.

Scenario - a person comes to work early so as to and leave early. The early arrival is okay. But the early leaving results in the most snide and nasty comments. So to stop the person leaving early, other colleagues create meetings, tasks and emergencies just before early leaving time, to ensure that the early bird does not make it out early. Oh the gloating. "Huh – you are still here? Your hours have not ended?"

Scenario -- If you do not come in to on a work day – chop goes your leave day. If you work until midnight or on a Sunday – the human resource is silent. So at the end of the year, when you inquire when the office will be closed, human resources responds “even you have no leave days”. Snide or not? You are left wondering if your leave days had anything to do with the official closing days of the company. Anyway, human resources is happy that you have no leave days, and you are doubly injured – no leave days but fodder for someone’s snideness.

Scenario - a child gets two presents by mistake from the teacher, and the other children demand that the second present be returned to the teacher. “It is not fair” they say. Fair to who? To themselves apparently.

A child we can forgive. And explain to them about generosity of spirit - that when good fortune smiles at someone other than yourself, you should be happy for them.

But as an adult, being mean of spirit, malevolent of spirit, and highlighting favours and advantages of others, so that they may be taken away from them defies humanity. It means you are a dog in the manger - you will not let me eat the grass which you yourself cannot eat. And then you ensure that what I had is taken away - you become a biting dog in the manger. And to top it all, to add insult to injury, you gloat. Gloating biting dog in the manger.

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