The Disease of Showing Off!
The love of showing off is a psychological disease bound closely to the feeling of inferiority. It is an ailment spread far and wide in our East, among the poor and the rich alike. It preys upon its people, carries off money and minds, and breeds misery, anxiety, fear, and many psychological illnesses that lead their victim to grave consequences — mental, psychological, and bodily.
I used to meet from time to time with Miss Jumana. At every gathering I would hear her talk about herself and about her abilities and talents. She never stops speaking of her bright future and her dazzling past, the beauty of the house she lives in, and its furnishings and servants. Often we would try to change the course of the conversation so that this Jumana would leave off her empty riches and the exaggeration of her talk, but in every subject she broached Jumana had to speak of her family, her friends, and herself with every exaggeration. So we would all be repelled by her talk, and would try to stay away from any gathering that included her. Several months after making her acquaintance, luck favored me and I entered her house — and how great was my astonishment when I did, for I saw none of the things she spoke of in her constant talk. It was the utmost in simplicity, and bare of furnishings and servants. Why, one wonders, does Jumana behave in this way??
"Randa" was, most regrettably, one of today's wives who spend on their homes and their appearance more than their husbands' income. By ill luck, she always loved to keep company with the rich and the wealthy. Randa's single concern was to keep pace with her friends, and for this she
would buy luxurious furniture and heavy furnishings — all of it to appear to her friends and relatives as one of them, even though her husband's salary did not suffice for these great expenses. But Randa
does not care, for she is afflicted with the disease of "love of showing off": she wants to appear far more than she is in reality. And when Randa went out into society, her concern was to draw eyes to herself by every way and means. She talks always of her virtues or her merits, and of what she has bought and what she will buy
of costly things and beautiful clothes. And when she speaks of
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