Greed

This world is driven by greed. People are greedy creatures and the only way to keep them happy is to give them what they want. Failing that, you get an unhappy world like we have today.

By definition greed is a selfish and insatiable desire for material gain, be it food, money, status, power or whatever.


Greed is often confused with ambition. Some people will tell you that if not for greed, we’d still be living in caves but that’s not true. It is ambition that got us here; greed only works in the short term. When a sickly and insatiable desire to possess more than what one really needs leads to a condition where 10% of the population possesses 90% of the wealth while the bulk of the planet live in poverty, then something very wrong. The problem with greed is that you never get enough. You always want more; even at the expense of others.

Exactly what people want, is not always easily discernible. Some may yearn for material things like money, real estate, jewellery, fancy cars and so forth while others may have more abstract desires like fame, popularity, status, attention, and the likes of it. And then there is another category whose greed is spurred by what other people possess. Greed and envy is an unholy combination.

There is nothing wrong with being prosperous – or rich if you prefer – we need rich people on the planet. They provide employment to the masses but when somebody ignores needy people when they can afford to help, or even worse, when somebody who can afford to buy his own bread, takes the bread out of the hands of somebody less privileged, we need to look at our system.

The sadness of it is that the greedy – with all their possessions – are not happy. You cannot be happy while there is still something that you crave for.

I Wish you all a wonderful day.