by Rashad Carre
A precocious little beast has grown up to be a real threat to our lives. It’s always existed, but we fed it, nurtured it, and now we worship it. Not only do we worship it, but we’ve also lost ourselves to it, as it draws us in and takes control. It goes by many names, but I know it as greed. Never in our known history has it goaded us to the ability to annihilate the entire planet with the advent of nuclear and hydrogen bombs.
It’s so conniving that not only does it make us blind to learning from our ‘mistakes’, we keep developing ever more sophisticated ways to destroy, exploit and control in ways that are even more pervasive. Even now, while we’re in the middle of a pandemic that threatens our very existence, a wealth stealth grows to staggering proportions. By its very nature, greed is narcissistic, and it’s leaching out empathy from the very systems designed to help mankind. And mankind is reeling in confusion, because we need empathy in our lives and for the systems that govern us to reflect that empathy. It’s not surprising then that the general public is losing confidence and a proliferation of conspiracy theories abounds. And as we’ve seen, these theories are used by leaders to further their own agenda.
Even so, it’s interesting to observe how the general society has reacted to the Covid pandemic. The courage and selflessness have, overall, been remarkable. There are many stories of how we have helped one another in ways that we may not have thought would be there. But as the past has shown, it’s in times of crises that the light of humanity shines through. And very often, the darker the crisis, the more noticeable that light. It’s a shame then that many of us choose to forget these occasions as our own situation improves.
We can never destroy greed, we need it to live. But does it have to be the dominant power that rules our lives? Can we change a system that privileges the few and gives them eligibility to help themselves to funds that should be shared by all? Of course we can. After all, we’re the ones who designed the system. There’s a song that asks, how many rivers must a man cross before he can call himself a man. And I ask, how many times are we given the chance to act before we can achieve our true humanity? But to act is not to fight, but to become aware of our personal attitude towards what should be a little beast. Ο