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Two couples leave their homes to meet for dinner at a restaurant. Couple A have a big fight on the way to dinner, as do couple B. But when the two couples finally arrive at the restaurant, they all act as if everything is fine.
"Hi, how are you two doing?" they both ask one another.
"Fine, great. And how are you two?" they both reply.
During dinner neither couple utter a word about their fight. Driving home, couple A say to each other, "Did you see couple B— how happy and in love they are? Why can't we be that happy?" Meanwhile in their car, couple B are saying the exact same thing: "Did you see couple A—how happy and in love they are? Why can't we be that happy?"
Not only were the couples unhappy from their respective fights, they are now even more unhappy as a result of comparing themselves with the other couple! They suffer from what can be called compound unhappiness—just as compound interest is interest on interest, compound unhappiness is unhappiness over being unhappy. Such are the dangers of comparing ourselves with others.Share
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