Midweek Musings… On Greed

Enough really is enough.

I can't help but feel sometimes, that the world we live in is a greedy place. Of course it is, it's everywhere. But me, well for the most part, I keep away, focus on our little life at home. I avert my eyes, focus on the good things and basically pretend a lot of things don't exist. 

But every now and then I come crashing head first into something I try to avoid. Right now it seems to be greed. 

I wonder why? What drives someone to want to take more than they need? Why is enough not simply 'enough'? 

I remember as a young girl, getting terribly upset one Easter when I got one beautiful giant easter egg. It was a quality chocolate egg, with pretty sugary flowers stuck to it, and it was big. But all I saw was "I only got one egg, my brother and my cousins got lots and lots of eggs". Now I was the oldest by a good few years, my egg was a beautiful quality egg, the other kids got lots of littler chocolate eggs with lots of brightly coloured wrapping. You can see the difference. And so I got upset, and I got told (to grow up). And eventually I came to see, that having more was not better. And that what I had was beautiful, and it was enough, and there was no need to compare what I had with what anyone else had. I hope I have carried that lesson with me.

Greed is a pretty ugly thing. It repels me. I can step back, feel detached and see into the soul of a person displaying greed (which is so much easier to do when it is a person; when it is an organisation or institution, it becomes harder to feel the compassion). I suspect that greed comes from a feeling of lack, of not having enough. Or perhaps of not feeling fulfilled in life, of always needing more to quell the desire for happiness, or something, but perhaps not finding it. And then seeking even more, rather than looking elsewhere for the true source of happiness.

And then I'm human again and I get caught up in the emotion, and waste time and energy feeling agitated about people being greedy. Organisations being greedy. Institutions being greedy. More, more, more. Me, me, me. More, more, more. 

I don't want to say that I'm never greedy. Of course, at times I am (usually involving cake). Probably anyone who is human is, or at the very least feels it to some degree. But I think it becomes a problem when it is a dominant character trait.

And my husband and I have the discussions, what ever happened to a fair days pay for a fair days work? Why does the lazy tax even exist? Why do people try to take advantage of one another? And sadly, it all comes down to money. Seems everyone just wants more money.

Don't get me wrong, we could do with some more money too. But I think there is a balance between having enough (we have enough) and having excess. And interestingly, thinking these thoughts as I am, this post came up as I flicked to one of my favourite blogs these days. I will call it a little synchronicity. 

I don't know. These are just my musings, after all. What can you do, other than just live your own values and avoid the things that clash. And when they do come up, what to do? I think for the little humans in this house, we're discovering just where our boundaries lie. The true boundaries, the ones you don't compromise on. And it is uncomfortable sometimes to hold the boundary. But we are endeavouring to do just that.

What do you think?

I thought I'd write a regular mid-week post that is essentially a brain dump of the thoughts that float around in my head. Better out than in, I say. Who knows what will appear! This is the first in the series.