Greed

Greed can be simply defined as the more you have, the more you want.

In our modern society, the mass media sells the idea of prosperity as well as the idea of success. This concept of so-called success talks about being happy via attaining certain goals like having a family, a good career, being respected in society, having all kinds of material wealth, and the list goes on. It is in man's nature to have unlimited wants. To further clarify on the definitions, a need is something that is necessary for survival (such as food and shelter), whereas a want is something that a person would like to have. After having all the basic needs met, a person would then desire for more things - a bigger house or maybe a car, and after having the bigger and the car, would desire even more things like maybe an even bigger house and another car. This desire could also include certain life wants like first looking for a partner, getting married, then to have kids, provide for their education and so on. Or it could also include climbing the corporate ladder. The idea of prosperity that is being marketed these days tells you what you need to have in order to be happy. Yet as we can see from the above, the more you have, the more you would desire - it is a vicious cycle. As such, wouldn't this be considered as greed?

Our wants can never be satisfied and each time we fail to attain a particular want, we get dejected. To make things worse, when we begin to compare ourselves with others, especially seeing those so-called successful people, we would get envious and feel as if the world had forsaken you. Yet this world is filled with people who are greater and lesser than you. If you compare yourself with someone who has lesser, then perhaps it would be time to count your blessings.

Greed can bring you misery, especially in our modern society where the idea of prosperity and success is being mass marketed, and when you start to benchmark yourself with others, you feel this endless need to catch up and attain more in life. There is probably nothing really bad about having ambition, but we need to be aware if the greed is getting to you. There are those who have attained their wealth (or success) by making other people suffer - that would be a sin.

It is okay to have goals in life and work towards them but truly we need to be humble and keep our greed in check.