Every year around the same time, my favorite season comes around. Wishing snow would fall and the leaves to disappear, I spent the days drinking hot chocolate and watching comfort movies. Desperately waiting for time to move faster each hour, I would finally race down the stairs and greet the best holiday: Christmas. My sisters and I ripped the wrapping, grabbed the stockings of the hangers, and dove under the tree. Once everything was revealed, the challenge began. I love having two sisters around the same age, but at moments like this, I wish I didn’t. Although we got a lot of the stuff we wanted, some gifts were unexpected and surprising. We traded gifts in the beginning until one of us didn’t want what the other had to offer. Oftentimes my parents had to break it up and we would go our separate ways. This didn’t stop the desire for the “cool” gift one of us got, making it hard to enjoy what we had. 

Oftentimes wanting something at an un-measurable level can cloud our judgment, just like it did for a character in Othello. Iago was able to view the perspective of all the characters, which allowed him to get a glimpse at the different events. He was able to see how triumphant Othello was even as an outsider. This jealousy fueled Iago’s rage, leading him to revenge. Othello also gave away the lieutenant ship to Cassio, a guy whom Iago thought he was superior to. Just like my sisters and I, Iago only saw what was shining at him, but never realized the worth of others. In this case, he could have focused on his wife whom he gave little thought to. Spending more time with her might have allowed him to gain focus on what matters.  

Coming back to my childhood Christmas morning, fighting over that one popular gift that wasn’t all that great might have been the biggest mistake I made. There is a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect that is thinking you are better than someone or something, but lack the knowledge and expertise. In a way, everyone has confidence in their abilities to do something, but scientists have described this as being too confident. People do not realize that they do not have any idea how to do something. As I was trying to negotiate with my sister, I thought I knew what was the best gift, so I never stopped to think about what I would be missing. I was given this gift that was personally chosen for me, and I didn’t hesitate to give it away. In another article I found this list that I thought described human habits so well: 1. Know things 2. Know we don’t know things 3. Don’t know we don’t know things. Being 10 years old, I was unaware of the number two and experienced number three. Assuming what the perfect present was to make me happy prevented my understanding that it wasn’t the best. It is more important to hold onto the things that I knew and was given, avoiding all the jealousy and hatred.