Vanity! All things equal, it isn’t that bad

Vanity is good. Vanity makes you feel great about yourself. Like nothing’s better than you. You own the world in your own way. Vanity, that egotistic and pompous trait, kind of shields us sometimes against the next fellow who thinks they are better than us. And for me, my narcissism was crushed by the little one the other day – princess Talia.

I was singing during our evening walk. Talia was serenading mommy too along with me. She must have not liked the impromptu song along with its forged tune because she all of a sudden, stopped. I went on like a confident soloist, only this time with more passion. Fire in my lungs. I could almost feel my throat drying up. When I ‘sing’, my brow wrinkles and there’s some oddness about my face. Well, Talia had this to say (out loud) to her mommy as I was pop-starring the night away:

“Mama, papa is crying,” no wonder you stopped singing with moa you little thing you.

She went on, “Papa why are you crying?”.

By the time she finished her last words, or is it sarcasm (if 2 year olds are capable of such) I had stopped and was all but cracking up uncontrollably. Silently, I decided to keep the irregular melody that is my voice in the shower.

Interlude: Whilst I write this, the wifey says I must shut up my mouth as I’m busy trying to sing along with Brandy’s Never Say Never. Too bad for me I’m also writing this in our marriage bed. ISRAEL!!!

My own daughter, at 2, just partially disapproved of my award winning singing. To me, there’s totally nothing wrong with the tune, the sync, the voice. To me, it is perfected melody. And a marvel at that. But then again, vanity is king you see. Each one of us needs to feel self-important about things they hold close to their hearts.

Even if, somebody says you your (anything) is not up to scratch, you always convince yourself you are. Be it with that car you drive, the kids you have (I believe mine are smarter than the most - vanity! oh yeah baby!), your uber-label clothes and the way they suit you, your address, your travels, your wallet, and all that list you can come up with. David Bullard put it better when he asked at Out to Lunch, 'What would be the point of being ostentatious if there were nobody to impress?' . And yes, without an audience, vanity is wooze.

May be I should enter the next poep stars. Who knows. There may not be the Talias there to get unsettled by my 'cries'. The judges may be less critical compared to the harsh panel of Talia and her mommy.

PS: For me, as long as it is not vanity for vanities sake, then voila.

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"Judge of a man by his questions, rather than by his answers." - Voltaire