Archbishop of Sydney

Admiration And Envy

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
28 February 2005

Who is the greatest person who ever lived?  A big ask.  It is a bit easier to ask who is the greatest Australian.

There is little unanimity on either question but I have been surprised in the past how few Catholics nominated Christ as the first answer.

However our various answers will show what qualities we admire, and how we rank them.  If our priorities are skewed and mistaken, we are more likely to be envious, want the qualities for ourselves and resent those who have them.

If the goal of our life is money and more money rather than being faithful or making a contribution, we can selfishly resent those who are more prosperous.

If we admire what is objectively good, something that takes us out of ourselves, we are more likely to be able to rejoice that others have these qualities, even though we don’t.

We should all work to develop our capacity for admiration.  Someone else’s virtue, talent or success, especially when used well, make the world a better place.  Therefore we should be grateful, and not hostile or competitive when we encounter talents or possessions we cannot equal.

Australians have something of a reputation for cutting down “the tall poppies”, but I don’t believe we are more envious than other peoples.  Australians like their heroes to be modest and are generally hardest on those who get above themselves, put on airs and graces.

The typical Australian believes he is as worthwhile as his neighbour, until proved otherwise, and in every case is entitled to his say.  We are less deferential to our political leaders than in U.S.A., but this is more a matter of style, not envy.

Sometimes envy can be disguised; occasionally not even recognised by the envious.  Wholesale condemnation of young people by their elders can spring from a resentment that we are no longer young.  Parents with large families sometimes encounter hostility, although this is worse in some European countries.  Why can’t each be left to choose her own way?

Sometimes a parent who has chosen to have only one or two children, or miscalculated or was coerced by spouse or partner, can lapse into resentment when confronted with a large happy family.  Envy resents someone else having what we secretly want, or fear, in our heart of hearts, that we should have.

Admiration means that we recognise and delight in what is good and beautiful, but we are forbidden to steal the good and beautiful when they are not ours.  The last of the Ten Commandments forbids us to covet our neighbour’s wife or our neighbour’s goods.  It is the envy which is condemned; to act on it would be a second fault.

Listing the persons and qualities we admire reveals a good deal of who we are.  In my book the greatest Australians are not athletes, even when they are good people.