Sour Grapes

Sometimes human nature is such that when we achieve something good, we want people to be there to cheer and congratulate us for our effort and achievement; whereas, when we achieve nothing good, we then shy away from lending our cheer and acknowledgement towards other people's achievement.

I remember back in school, at the end of the year during the school's annual prize giving ceremony, students who were supposed to receive their prizes would turn up for the event, whereas others would be absent.

I had been on both sides.

Whenever I was expecting to receive an award, I would hope that most of my friends and schoolmates would be there to witness my glorious moment; but when I was not expecting to receive any award, I would not even care to attend the event, thinking that the whole ceremony was just some form of "wayang" for people to showoff.

Such a loser I was.

And I'm sure many of you have been in the same circumstance before.

Why is it that we just want to taste "sweet grapes" and despise the taste of "sour grapes"?
It could be due to feelings of envy, inferiority, or resentment.

Whatever it is, I have learnt to accept and make the best of out the "sour grapes". Many things in life behave in a reciprocal manner. If we want people to treat us well, we need to first learn how to treat people well. If we want people to feel happy for us, we need to first learn how to feel happy for others. If we want others to acknowledge our good work, we need to first learn how to acknowledge other people's good work.

Apart from that, being able to take the taste of "sour grapes", in a way, would make us acknowledge our own mistakes and shortcomings, and trigger us to strive to be better in our next attempt.

Meanwhile, resenting the taste of "sour grapes" would only keep us at where we are and living in denial, because resenting out mistakes and shortcomings is akin to not acknowledging the need to improve.

Therefore, if you want to succeed in life, you must first learn how to accept the taste of "sour grapes". The more you taste, the more close you'll move towards a better you.