Some years ago in one of my early college courses the professor gave an assignment to prepare a short presentation on a social or cultural issue that was important to us individually. I chose the subject of corporate greed because of its adverse affects where I was working at the time.

Please note this is not a political leaning post. I’ve taken a personal oath to not write about politics. This is simply my angle of how greed looks in any setting.

Imagine a human ladder. Two towers of people, side-by-side, with arms linked. One person is climbing up the middle. The climber starts out slow and stops often to ask the support people how they are doing. Are they okay? Do they feel stable in their position? Do they have what they need to handle the changing pressure as the climber goes higher?

As the climber progresses his stops get shorter. He asks fewer questions of his support people, expecting them to just deal with the bumps and bruises as he ascends faster. Sometimes the climber forgets that it is people who support him, instead of an inanimate object. He steps on someone’s head. He may or may not apologize, but either way he keeps climbing.

Occasionally, one person may have to briefly let go to soothe a sore muscle, or wipe a bit of sweat, or even rub off a drop of drool from the climber’s foaming mouth. Someone may become tired and resentful of being stepped on and decide to leave the ladder. It causes the ladder to sway and wobble while the support people scramble, shift and adjust. The climber grabs a fistful of someone’s hair and holds on, shouting at the support people to reposition and balance themselves so he doesn’t fall down. He blames them. It’s their fault, their responsibility, they need to give more. He accepts no responsibility for the effects of his greed.

It doesn’t occur to him to climb back down and fill the void himself until someone else can fill the spot. If he did that, perhaps he would become more humbled and aware of the struggles his support system is enduring. He might ask why the support link abandoned their position in the ladder. He may even become aware of how his selfishness and greed has oppressed others. Maybe he will rethink the ladder idea altogether and invest in a team hand glider instead, so that the team can soar together at new heights that were never before obtainable.

Unfortunately, that scenario seems like it could only exist in a daydream. This world is crawling with the slime of greed and lust for things that do not matter after death. It’s ugly, no matter how much one tries to make it shine with pretty things.

A hard truth….

Only the purest of souls, who are so few in this day, are willing to give up everything to discover the treasure of all treasures….love for all.