Envy is one of the worst human qualities, and it was not for nothing that the ancients singled it out among the seven deadly sins. It is very easy to envy - after all, there will always be a person who is superior to us in some way. In beauty, in money, in health, in relationships... even if we are comparable in everything else, be sure that our subconscious mind will make a comparison according to the factor where we are inferior.
It is especially disappointing when envy arises between close relatives, because when we know another person well, we're totally aware of their 'pain points', which, consciously or not, we put pressure on. A similar story happened to user u/throwawaycottonred, who recently shared it on the AITA Reddit community.
The author of the post has an older sister who has always been envious towards her stable financial situation
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual image)
The author just worked hard to earn enough money but her sister never liked to work, preferring to hunt rich guys
Image credits: u/throwaycotonred
Image credits: Nataliya Vaitkevich (not the actual image)
Image credits: u/throwaycotonred
After the sister called the author out for 'being too rich to wash hands too long', the author lost her temper and told her the sad truth
Image credits: Edward Jenner (not the actual image)
Image credits: u/throwaycotonred
The sister got extremely offended and burst into tears, but the author is sure she did everything right
So, the original poster (OP) and her older sister grew up together and were always friendly, but over time, the younger sister began to work hard to achieve a stable financial situation, but the older sister, in the author's own words, was just trying to find a boyfriend, from which she pulled money for several months - and then history repeated itself.
However, everyone chooses the lifestyle they like, and this would not concern the OP at all, if not for one thing - her sister got into the habit of literally every time they met being ironic about how rich the OP is, and how hard it is for her to be around a 'privileged sister' accustomed to luxury.
This could apply to absolutely everything in literally ridiculous ways - for example, the sister could find fault with the author of the post for washing her hands for too long, because she 'was used to the luxury of not noticing water bills'. For a while, the OP perceived this as just an eccentricity, but over time, it simply began to annoy her.
And so, after another critical attack on her, the OP simply lost her temper, and she scolded the sister, saying that she was poor simply because she was lazy. According to the original poster, they grew up in the same household, and where the author of the post worked hard, the sister simply used to live fast, surviving on money from a boyfriend. Of course, the sister got immediately offended and burst into tears, but at least the author of the post stood up for herself.
Image credits: Liza Summer (not the actual image)
“In this situation, we see a kind of manifestation of double standards, when a person does not see anything offensive in their words and actions, and when they have to taste their own medicine, they get so offended,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, to whom Bored Panda reached out for a comment on this situation. "Obviously, the original poster's sister, if she understood that she was hurting a loved one at all, hardly realized how much pain she actually caused."
"By the way, I have encountered similar situations several times in my practice, and almost always these were cases when one of the brothers or sisters was the parents' favorite, and everything was easier for them than for the other one. Accordingly, the second sibling used to understand early that in order to achieve something, you need to work hard. The sooner the sister of the author realizes this fact, the easier it will be for her, and the more likely the sisters will reconcile and improve their relationships," Irina Matveeva notes.
However, most of the people in the comments also acknowledge that the original poster's words were blunt but honest. In any case, the woman needed to solve this problem in her relationship with her sister, giving her a reality check. Be that as it may, that's never good when a person tries to make themselves look better by dragging others down, commenters are pretty sure.
On the other hand, the original poster was still relatively lucky with her sister - for example, the sister of the heroine of this story used to bully her in high school, and then, years later, got extremely offended when she didn't ask her to be a maid of honor at her own wedding. So, what do you think, how justified was such a harsh rebuke from the author of the post towards her insulting sister?
People in the comments sided with the author as well, claiming that's never good when a person tries to make themselves look better by dragging others down
