Excessive Desires

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Early this month I did something I usually don't do, I bought a new car! Now the problem was this, even though my 'old automobile' was only ten years old and had less than 100k, I still went ahead with a new 2015 model. Usually when it comes to larger items, like a car, I limit my spending to what I need, not to what I want. The old car was fine, in good shape with no signs of rust. So why did I buy a new one? Because I wanted to!

I had to ask myself, 'Am I getting greedy in my old age?' Today's cars have so many new safety features, entertainment and navigation improvements and I want to enjoy them in comfort. I certainly don't need some of them. So I broke my own rule. There is an element of greed here, but it is not an unrestrained and self-serving greed, that, according to the dictionary is an excessive desire for gain or wealth. In fact the ultimate addiction, and the worst addiction of all, is the intemperate desire for more than is needed, especially when it comes to the pursuit of wealth. In other words for the greedy person, there is never enough.

Thinking about greed I began to realize that our very culture places a great deal of value on materialism. Advertising encourages greed, and greed is good for the economy, even though it is not always good for every individual. Indeed, greed can be for anything: money, love, emotional intimacy, knowledge and even life itself. 

In this octogenarians view, it is this excessive greed that is beginning to tear at the foundations of our society. Obviously, excessive greed is doing terrible harm to our environment. We only have to look at extreme weather or rising sea levels, the destruction of our forests, our oceans and fresh water supply.

I read recently that in just one year fake malaria drugs contributed to the death of more than 100,000 children in Africa. Companies like Google, Apple and Starbucks have been avoiding paying billions of dollars in taxes by "attributing profits to subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions like Bermuda". (Bloomberg Businessweek June 20, 2015) Some of the richest men in the world do great philanthropic work, but does Larry Ellison, the CEO of ORACLE really need 10Billion a year? Mobile apps sell advertising on the number of views the ads get. So some advertisers run multiple ads at once or run the ads when the app is closed to make more profit!  Is the very greed that successfully built our society beginning to tear it apart?

The Pew Research Centre in the U.S. recently stated that a study revealed that the top reason people gave for leaving their church was the church's interest in power and money! Abraham Maslow, the author of what is know as the 'hierarchy of needs' (A Theory of Human Motivation) places greed on the bottom level and implies it prevents even personal growth.

So buying a new car may be a little greedy on my part and just proves I am, like so many others, a victim of modern advertising. But, God it is fun driving a new vehicle!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week

Did You Know?

Some of the new innovations, companies like Allstate, Geico and State Farm are making available to drivers a plug-in that will help reduce accidents and  reduce the cost of insurance. Good for them.