Peppermint

"Guess what," Peppermint Patty told her classmate Marcie one day, "I'm going for the "Most Improved Student" award."

"School just started today, sir."

But Peppermint didn't lose her hope, quite the opposite really, because she went on, "And I'm already better this afternoon than I was in the morning."

The story of Peppermint is the story for all of us to learn. It's not that we should learn to console ourselves when we just receive a D minus - as what Peppermint gets most of the time - but we're to remember the lesson not to envy our neighbours more than we need to. The question is not whether we should compare with others, because we all do. We compare the job title, the size of our house, the examination scores of our children, and the inches around the waist (or the breast, if you like).

The big question is, When should we compare with ourselves rather than our neighbours? Just think about the hypothetical question posed by the economist Robert H. Frank. In World A, you earn $110,000 per year; others earn $200,000. Compare that with World B, in which you earn $100,000 per year; others earn $85,000. So which would you pick?

The truth is, even though the absolute income figures represent the real purchasing power, the majority of people choose World B.