Greed

742 Words2 Pages

Greed According to Vocabulary.com, greed is an overwhelming urge to have more of something, usually more than one really needs. Greed is often connected with money, a desire to acquire as much of it as possible but it can refer toward anything, like food or material possessions. Greed is not merely " I want more". Greed is "I want more than everybody else". To thefreedictionary.com, greed is defined as an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth. Anyone can find a bit of greed in anyone else. Everyone wants more than they deserve. The "drunk uncle" sits around the house all day and complains that he can't get a job or the local retail store isn't paying him enough. Why does he deserve the job? There are plenty of unemployed people who aren't able to find jobs and people who are more deserving to get a raise. The "uncle" wants what he doesn't deserve. The best example of greed comes from Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner. “That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms.” This example continues to shock me. Giving up the love of your life, so that one could have all the pearls in the world. It just doesn't seem worth it. But the main reaso... ... middle of paper ... ...made him and gave him the ability he has just used." But Shiva merely scowled and vanished. (Hinduism.Skanda Purana 1.1.21) He who considers wealth a good thing can never bear to give up his income; he who considers eminence a good thing can never bear to give up his fame. He who has a taste for power can never bear to hand over authority to others. Holding tight to these things, such men shiver with fear; should they let them go, they would pine in sorrow. They never stop for a moment of reflection, never cease to gaze with greedy eyes--they are men punished by Heaven(Taoism. Chung Tzu 14). As one can see, every major religion recognizes that suffering and evil are caused by excessive desires or desires directed toward the selfish purpose. Habeeb Akande said "the difference between greed and ambition is a greedy person desires things he isn't prepared to work for".

More about Greed

Open Document