I seem to have been on a PERSPECTIVES kick in 2009. Here is another one I'd like to share. It deals with greed.

It is important to know that I do not believe I had realized what Anarchy truly is at this point. So while I so identify myself as an anarchist today, I did not know what the term meant when I wrote this.

I do not know that I ever shared this document with anyone. I typically write stuff like this because I cannot fall asleep unless I get it written down and out of my head.

In lying in bed this morning I began asking myself what the truly negative behaviors one can acquire are. Of these one of the foremost I could come up with is greed. Though based on some other concepts stemming around the idea of perception I felt Greed itself needed clarification because, without the clarification the pursuit of stopping the greedy and not having greed can become negative itself.

The best way to explain greed is to offer some scenarios.

Scenario 1

Source: giphy.com

Two children go to the store to buy as many flavored jelly beans as they can and put them all in the same bag.
Child #1 pays for 75 Jelly beans and Child #2 pays for 25 Jelly beans.

RESULT 1:
Child #1 eats 75 jelly beans and child #2 eats 25 jelly beans.
Question: Is child #1 greedy? By my thoughts the answer is "no". Jelly beans have no nutritional value and are not required for sustenance. By taking the amount of Jelly Beans the child paid for neither child is cheated.

RESULT 2:
Child #1 eats 50 Jelly beans and Child #2 eats 50 jelly beans.
Question: Is either child greedy? If child #1 did not give up the extra 25 jelly beans out of simple generosity on their part then child #2 is in fact being greedy. The child is consuming the efforts of both children and is consuming more than the share they put in. IF this was granted by child #1 then that is generosity and it is not greed to accept generosity. This is only true because, the jelly beans are not required for survival.

Scenario 2

Source: giphy.com

A being requires 50 units of food per day to survive. Two beings pool their money to buy food. Being #1 pays for 70 units of food. Being #2 pays for 30 units of food.

RESULT:
Being #1 eats 75 units of food and Being #2 eats 25 units of food.
Question: Is being #1 greedy? In this case the answer is yes. Food is necessary for survival and as stated they need 50 units of food for each to survive. Together, they both could survive simply due to the fact they worked together. Being #2 will not survive due to the actions of being #1 consuming more food than is necessary to survive.

It should be noted is is NOT Being #1's duty to feed other beings but, when that much food is actually is purchased then it becomes a duty. This will need some clarification so it does not spiral into the situation where a person might think that simply because a person spends more on food they are greedy and should pay for less fortunate peoples' food. In this case for this example to be true assume the units of food are exactly the same type of food and that each being requires 50 units to survive. In that cae one taking 75 and another taking 25 shows aspects of GREED.

Scenario 3

Source: giphy.com

A man owns five homes.

RESULT: One of the homes he spent a week in and then moved on and simply never got around to selling it. The other four he spends a season in each year. So he rotates between those houses living in one during the winter, one during the spring, one during the summer, and one during autumn.
Question: Is this man greedy? Answer: Yes. Simply for one reason. The 5th home is not being used and could be used to house someone else. If the man ever intended to return to that area for a week it would be more affordable to rent a place to stay for that time and to ensure that the property remained on the market. The other four he returns to each year and he and/or his family are actively using them. You may be able to argue that it would be easier to rent a house at each location each season. This enters into dangerous territory. A person should be able to accumulate comforts. A person should be able to spend what they have earned. Some people earn more than others and should not be penalized for active comforts. So in the case of the houses it becomes a question of "How many houses can be owned before a person is greedy?*"

That is not really something people should be determining. It is more something that the individual themselves needs to pay attention to and decide for themselves.

The danger with assessing greed is when one or more people are permitted the right to decide on whether another is greedy or not. It will not work this way and is doomed to failure. The only way this can be dealt with is if an individual polices themselves and trains themselves to recognize when they are being greedy.

Scenario 4

Source: giphy.com

A man owns two homes. He uses them both. Another man comes into the region and needs a home but cannot afford one.

RESULT 1: The man agrees to rent his second home to the other man or gives it to him.
Question: Is the other man greedy if he accepts it? No, this is accepting generosity and whenever a person is generous they should be applauded. Where this may be an issue is that it is noted the man who gave the second home always used them both. What if he used them both because, his family was large enough that he needed both houses? Now he has his family crammed into a single home while the other man has a nice large house to himself which he could not afford. In this case the man accepting the generosity would be GREED unless by accepting he knew he could quickly help the generous man get into a better situation.

RESULT 2: The man does nothing and the other man needs to leave or find means to get shelter.
Question: Is the man greedy for not providing one of his homes? No, as it is not his duty to care for every person that comes through the region at the expense of his own needs. He is using both houses. Since they are in use it is not greed because, he is not withholding an empty house from a man.

Scenario 5:

Source: giphy.com

A man hears that another man he wishes to one up has purchased another car and now owns eleven cars.

RESULT 1: The man hurries forth to buy another car so that he has twelve.
Question: Is this man greedy? In reality, if neither man uses the cars they have and simply has them as possessions then they might be considered greedy. Ultimately though that is their choice. To them the cars in their garage may be the equivalent of the nick knacks on your shelf. They simply are expensive nick knacks. However, in this case when a person buys another car simply because someone else now has the same amount or more of them. That is the wrong motivation to buy something whether it is a nick knack on a shelf or whether it is a car. This type of motivation can turn into the worst type of greed. It effectively leads to making of a man the equivalent of a black hole. If there were only one man with this greed it would stop. Once you introduce more men with this same form of greed then this competition amongst them feeds upon itself and their need to compete is endless. This could be the worst form of greed.

RESULT 2: The man looks at his eleven cars and realizes he only uses one to commute to work, one to go four wheel driving in, and one for large groups. He decides to sell the other eight. He now only has three cars.
Question: Is the man greedy? Definitely not. In my opinion he is certainly more worthy of being looked up to than he would be in result 1. He has escaped the vicious cycle.

Assessment:

Greed is bad. It is a danger in all of us. We cannot regulate the greed of others accept by not praising someone for what we deem as greed. A person must regulate themselves. In society, a man that has a beautiful wife, 50 cars, and 10 houses is looked on with awe. It is this awe and treatment of the man as better that inspires people to seek this type of greed in the first place.

Source: giphy.com

So what can be done?
Monitor yourself for when you are acting with greed. When you decide that you are doing so then do something about it. Do not reward the greedy by giving them the recognition they expect for their greed. Without the recognition there is less incentive to act that way. In a more harsh circumstance you could withhold your interaction with that person completely as long as it does not put them in danger or hurt them.

Source: giphy.com

Conclusion for steemit

I wrote that quite a number of years ago and didn't share it before. It was something I had to get off of my mind. My thoughts on this subject have of course evolved/changed a bit since this time.

This article had nothing to do with Steemit though we do sometimes have an envy problem here.