I often wish that money wasn’t such the driving force of most of society, but unfortunately throughout history it seems like it has been and still is. And it truly feels as if it’s one of the most frequently talked about topics because of this. While I do understand that having money is important so that each of us can provide for our families and ourselves, what bothers me is the greed I see that frequently becomes attached to it. Gordon Gekko in Wall Street said that “Greed Is Good”, but I beg differ as I ultimately feel that greed isn’t good at all, not one bit.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been guilty of being greedy myself, especially with money in this lifetime. There was a time when I was living with close to seven figures tied to my name and yet I was always worried I didn’t have enough. During that time, I sought out the latest and greatest of everything, constantly tossing aside items that were still functioning quite well. What I threw away was mind-boggling. From food to electronics to vehicles to houses, I never had much of an appreciation for any of what my abundance of money afforded me.
It wasn’t until I lost much of that abundance and my ability to earn a living, did I begin to realize how much I had allowed greed to consume my life. Once I finally did though, I began making adjustments in my day-to-day living to start appreciating what I had. That’s when I stopped getting rid of all those things that were still usable and it’s when I began taking care of what I did buy with my money and having greater gratitude for it.
Case in point, after eight years of taking care of my computer and about five with my cell phone, I finally have to break down and go purchase new ones for both, as they are beginning to no longer function. At some point, my eight-year-old car with close to 200,000 miles on it will follow suit as well. But that’s a far cry from the time in my life when I used to buy new computers, new phones, or new cars every year or every other year and simply trade in or throw away the old ones without batting an eye.
Looking back on the changes I’ve made to move away from these old behaviors, I realize my greed was always tied to me looking for happiness outside of myself. I’ve mentioned this a number of time before in my writing when I say that I learned happiness was never going to come from any person, place, or thing. In fact, the more I had in any of those areas, the more I only wanted. And the more I only wanted, the more I became a greedy person. Sadly, too many of us on this planet learn to be like this solely because we’re raised that way. And unfortunately, when we are, it can carry over into any business we create.
Recently I faced this with the Veterinarian practice I take my cat to. With each visit, there has been an increasing number of miscellaneous charges that have been thrown on our bill with great explanations of why they had to be there. Yet upon calling to other Veterinarian practices in the area, the same services were being provided at a much lower cost with an equal amount of quality.
I really do find it saddening that so much of our world is geared this way, constantly striving to acquire more and more money and the things it can buy. I wish society wasn’t so greedy. I wish we all would become a lot more grateful for what we do have instead of being frustrated for what we don’t, and stop believing that acquiring more money will make things better for us, because it never does. The only thing that has made my life any better and never caused me to become a greedy person in life has been a much closer relationship to my Higher Power.
While I wish I could change the path of greed through my words here and help people to see the lessons I’ve learned about this negative trait, I know that people in their own time will come to see it for themselves. Regrettably, mine had to come through a lot of pain and suffering, but hopefully yours won’t have to be that way…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson