Published: July 26, 2008 09:45 am         

The American way

Larry Jones, Democrat Columnist

Back in the 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great listed and defined the seven deadly sins. The first three little transgressions on his list were sins of excess: Luxuria (lust), gula (gluttony) and avaritia (greed).

Wow! Despite happening roughly a thousand years before Columbus discovered the New World, the Pope, with these “top three,” may have defined the present-day American dream.

A perhaps overly generous and unrestrained set of civil liberties may be corrupting our moral compass, lack of self-discipline and a historically cheap and ample food supply has created an obese population, and perhaps the greatest threat to our society is our unrelenting materialistic greed.

Since Pope Gregory identified these weaknesses in human nature 1,500 years ago, this propensity to indulge to excess has obviously always been present in American society. However, in today’s contemporary society we seem to have refined it into an art form.

Hollywood and the media moguls have worked hard to pander to the lowest element of behavior, and modern conveniences have allowed for a sedentary lifestyle greatly contributing to an obese and gluttonous population. Monetary greed seems to have become the societal norm and serves as the benchmark for determining success.

When does ambition and a desire to have the better things of life become simple greed? Obviously it depends upon the lengths a person or a corporation will go to obtain monetary rewards. If asked, no one would condone taking money from a widow with hungry children, yet this is exactly what may happen because of perfectly legitimate business practices in our current society.

Greed replaces ambition when an athlete takes performance enhancing drugs to achieve record feats. Greed is responsible for rampant cheating in schools to achieve better grades without extra work. Greed sends American jobs overseas for short term gains, despite the devastating effect on our nation’s economy. Greed by medical professionals and hospital corporations destroy the lives of millions of middle class Americans unfortunate enough to be unable to afford medical insurance.

When did our country’s obsession with material excess begin? Probably it began full steam ahead with the great affluence following WW II and the creation of the Baby Boomer generation.

In America we have always had our robber barons like the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Vanderbilts, Astors and Hearsts. They purportedly used their enormous wealth to unfairly take advantage of those least able to afford their products or services. The good part of the robber baron days is the fact there were relatively few of them to prey on the populace.

Today that number has trickled down to a much larger segment of society. Far too many among us are too sharply focused on attaining great wealth regardless of method. Somewhat reminds me of Bill Gates and Microsoft computer software. Despite being one of the richest, if not the richest man in the world, he remains determined to sell me a new version of Windows computer software every year or two whether I want it or not. This is pure greed!

Recent attention has been given to the obscene salaries given to corporate CEOs. Often these ludicrous earnings, bonuses and stock options are given despite driving the companies into financial ruin. Greed has driven these CEO salaries to an estimated 500 times the salary of the average employee.

Being willing to work hard with an expectation of fair and generous reward is not a bad thing, but to pursue it to the point of unfairly taking from the poor and giving to the rich is without conscience.

Too bad Robin Hood isn’t running for president.

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Larry M. Jones is a retired Navy Commander and aviator who raises cattle and hay in the Brock/Lazy Bend part of Parker County. Comments may be directed to nowhearthis@pwhome.com. Columns submitted to The Weatherford Democrat by guest writers reflect the opinions of the writer and in no way reflect the beliefs or opinions of The Weatherford Democrat.

     

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