I tend to agree. Our daily lives are driven
by the ambition to accumulate. For instance, we hoard titles of wealth to earn
a position in society, while trying hard to avoid the pitfalls of failure. What
has made life so deceitful? It is greed which we masquerade as ambition - which
is a fine quality to have. However I have to say, greed is the reason that has
soiled the joy of living, and what is life without joy? A famous author once
said that greed is “A selfish or excessive desire more
than needed or deserved.”
Greed doesn’t just poison us on an
individual level. The world wars of the last century, the great economic
depression, cold war and several calamities have been fuelled by this
destructive desire. Be it greed for power or greed for wealth. And today sadly
our greed for comfort has led to a catastrophic disaster which is not only
affecting our fellow men but the entire planet.
The world as of today is more educated
than it was but still has never acted more foolishly. Greed is the fuel which
is powering our own destruction and unfortunately it never runs out. Now is the
time we seize the initiative, be realistic, reflect on things as they are and
probably even take corrective actions. Let’s empty our cans of greed and stop
the vehicle of personal and global destruction. For life is to live and to live
is to be happy.
Anisha Lalwani
MR 2015-16
Well articulated thoughts, Anisha.
ReplyDeleteWould like to add here that life itself brings in few basic needs, like, food, shelter and clothing. Though we have over the years added sanitation, health etc...,we still would never be able to do without the first three. In the journey of acquisition, there needs to be a balance of the need and desire. When desire overtakes need we term the status as greed and this is when we start our journey back from human beings to animals. The instinct to acquire more and more conquers our reasoning and what follows is decay of morality, values etc.
Thus training our thoughts and desires to culminate at the need level helps in attaining greater hieghts.
The recent example of our ex-president Dr. Abdul Kalam, is a case in point at even after being the first citizen of India, his personal possessions were limited to his basic needs only.