Recent Musings:
Continuing on...
Friday, December 23, 2005
I think self-pity, too then, is what causes greediness in people. I think people feel the need to be greedy when they aren't meeting their real needs in life and have to compensate somehow. Their lack of responsibility in meeting their own needs can be overrun by self-pity and then people become consumed with insatiable desires, where nothing is ever enough to meet the need and where they will try to meet any need possible just in case, whether needed or not.
For instance, I bought lunch today. The fast-food restaurant offered me free food, which I didn't want or need. I thought about my co-workers, realized they all had lunch and said, no thanks, I'll just buy my lunch. Upon sharing the information when I got back, I was reprimanded for not taking the food. My argument: none of us needed the food. Their argument: who cares? it's free!
So think about this: if a person believes their life is sadder and harder than everyone else's, if a person believes they'll never be able to afford the things they really want to buy, if a person believes that their time is being stolen from them and they'll never be able to rest when they need to rest, if a person believes they will go hungry unless they eat every free meal they can get, then a person will grab and cling to whatever free or available thing they can find, regardless of whatever their present needs may be. And while their greed may be justified on a certain level, it still represents an unmet need elsewhere.