Is Greed Good?

24 October 2010

 

Today’s topic seemed so simple and straight-forward … on paper.  I mean: “greed.”  Good grief, if we can agree on nothing else we can agree on that.  If there is anything beyond the Golden Rule that our varying spiritual paths have tried to teach us, it is that, Gordon Gecko notwithstanding, greed is not good.  A few highlights:

 

From Taoism … “There is no crime greater than having too many desires; … no misfortune greater than being covetous.”

 

From the Mishnah of Judaism … “Envy, desire and ambition drive a man out of the world.”  I might add … women too!

 

From the Udana of Buddhism … “Blinded are beings by their sense desires spread over them like a net.  They are covered by a cloak of craving.”

 

The Bhagavad-Gita of Hinduism states bluntly … “There are three gates to self-destruction: lust, anger and greed.

 

Islam teaches us that … “Wealth is the fountainhead of inordinate craving.”

 

Sikhism teaches simply that … “When there is greed, love is false.”

 

In Timothy, Christianity puts it simply … “Love of money is the root of all evil.”

 

In James, it’s a more stark … “You desire and do not have, so you kill.”

 

Ok then.  Case closed.  Greed bad.  End of sermon. … Right?  Wrong.

 

I wonder if there has ever been a human trait so reviled in word and yet so honored in deed.

 

Jesus taught us that is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to make it to heaven – a potent metaphor whether one believes in heaven or not.  And yet, what is the “American Dream” that we keep talking about?  The idea that anyone, no matter how poor, can become fabulously wealthy.  The underlying premise is that the great goal, the great dream, the great aspiration, the ultimate in success is to become fabulously wealthy.  When people remark on how successful George or Martha is – aren’t they speaking of how much money they have?  Aren’t they equating success with wealth?  We praise to the heavens Mother Theresa, but we long to be as wealthy as Warren Buffet. 

 

Greed is, of course, one of the “seven deadly sins.”  And yet, it seems clear that “greed,” like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  In many ways it has merely become a part of that larger toxin “Us” as opposed to “Them.”  Greed is, I think, much too often something that “they” have.  Greed is something that “they” indulge in.  Whoever “they” are…this week.  Wall Street perhaps?  It is a tempting and obvious target for sure.  As the country suffers from high unemployment and the domino of foreclosures that their games, to be polite, helped to create, we listen to commentators explain, with a straight face, obscene Wall Street bonuses by saying how can you expect a person to do his or her best with only a half million dollar bonus?  Wall Street has to pay these bonuses, we are told.  How can you expect a person to work for a mere million dollars when he or she can go across the street and make ten million.  My question is how can we listen to that and not understand that it our acceptance of this “value system,” not only in Wall Street but in sports and elsewhere, that makes it possible? 

 

It is easy, too easy perhaps, to blame and ridicule “them.”  But, as the eminent philosopher Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” 

 

A movie I have long enjoyed is “Key Largo” with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and a deliciously decadent and evil Edward G. Robinson, who plays the gangster Rocco.  Rocco’s already rich.  “What do you want?” he’s asked by someone he is terrifying.  Rocco can’t put it into words.  But, of course, the Bogart character can.  “More.”  “Yeah,” Rocco says.  “I want more.” 

 

That, to me, sums up in no small way the country and culture we have become.  The country of Rocco.  The country of “more.”  Has there ever been a simpler more direct expression of this than what is called “The American Dream?”  That a person can start small and with hard work become filthy rich.  “The American Dream.”  Is that truly the dream we wish to foster and teach our children?

 

Is our measure of success living in a larger house, with a bigger car, and the most conspicuous consumption?  I think many of us here would say, “No.”  But do we teach it to our children?  Values, as we well know, are the watchword of the day.  Do we teach our children the value of contributing, as opposed to collecting?  I think many of us here today do.  And therefore it would be fun and easier to stop the message here.

 

And yet, while it’s problem enough, the “Rocco syndrome”, if we may call it that, isn’t the only problem.  There’s another side to greed.  A darker side.

 

Our culture teaches us not only to want “more;” but to want it cheap.  We want a bargain.  And today I wish to speak here, at Living Interfaith, a bit of heresy.  In all honesty, I’d given quite a bit of thought to calling today’s message, “the high cost of cheap.” 

 

Let’s start with a quick example.  A personal one.  I became acquainted with the high cost of my own cheapness when I learned not that long ago, what it cost in human terms to deliver one of my favorite foods to me at a price that I would appreciate.  Chocolate.  I am, I freely admit, a chocoholic.  And I coveted my chocolate bargains.  I’d long been aware that coffee was labor-intensive to pick; and that keeping the price of coffee  down meant exploiting the people who picked the beans.  --  Just as an aside, the coffee served during out social time is not only shade grown and organic, but even more importantly fairly traded. --  But it had never dawned on me that the chocolate bean would be as labor-intensive to harvest as the coffee bean.  Cheap chocolate requires exploited labor. 

 

So, finally, this year, for the first time, not only do I eat only fair traded chocolate, but when Halloween comes, I’ll be offering the trick-or-treaters only fair traded chocolate.  It’s not cheap.  I figure it has quadrupled my Halloween candy costs. 

 

But that’s the question I’d ask us to ponder today.  How expensive for the world is it, for us to get something cheap?   Many businesses state they are against raising the minimum wage because they will have to charge more.  And their customers want cheap.  We get more and more products from China – because people want cheap.  Mom and Pop stores all over the country are going out of business because the huge box stores can provide clothing, food, hardware, you name it.  And they can provide it cheap.  And cheap is what most of us have been trained to seek.  I know I was.  Of course, we don’t call it “cheap,” we call it “bargain hunting.”  Ferret out the “bargain.”

 

But what does it cost the world to bring us that bargain?

 

There is a wonderful book, and I have brought a copy with me, and no I don’t make a penny off of it, called “The Better World Shopping Guide.”  Its credo is, “Every dollar you spend is a vote for the world you want to live in.”  It doesn’t reveal what product or store is best or cheapest.  It is concerned with which product or store is more socially responsible, or less so.

 

I bought the book.  I’ve read the book.  I use the book.  And still I would be less than honest if I did not tell you that the urge to pursue a “bargain” is so deeply ingrained in my psyche that I find I must continually shop with intention.  Every day I find I have to remind myself that every dollar I spend is vote for the world I want to live in.  And there are days, still, there are days when I forget.  It is so much cheaper, if I do this.  It is so much less money if I buy that. 

 

And there is something else to consider.  We cannot solve every problem.  And certainly not over night.  We would go nuts if we tried.  And some of us are out of work.  For some of us, at certain moments, it’s cheap or go without.  I’ve been there.  There was a time in my life when I lived on a half gallon of the cheapest milk I could find and a ten pound bag of potatoes a week – and the kindness of others who would occasionally take me out for a meal.  After that was behind me, it took about twelve years before I could even look at a potato again.  But, happily, today I am not in that position.  Today I can make the choice to pay more and do with a little less. 

 

Interestingly, it was just a few months ago when I finished reading another book, called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”  It’s about where our food comes from, and what it costs to get it to us.  I strongly recommend it.  It’s by Michael Pollan.  And what he suggests, as he concludes his book is specifically about food, but it could be about everything.  Pollan suggests we pay more and consume less.

 

Again, these are changes that we can’t do overnight.  But we can resolve to act in the world with intention.  A part of LIVING Interfaith, a part of living our belief in our common humanity, is to embrace that what we do, what we consume, and the price we pay for it not only affects us, but the entire world. – “The ripple effect” gone mad.

 

Perhaps it is time to ask the question, “What does cheap for me, cost the world as a whole?  And should I care?”   I blogged about this last week, sharing a story about what we value.  With all due lack of modesty, if you haven’t read it, I’d urge you to go to our Living Interfaith website, and check Steven’s Blog (16 October) for the fable: “The Successful Brother.” 

 

But right now I’d like now to turn things over to Judy Smith, who will be sharing some real time effects that “cheap for me” can have on our educational system.

 

Amen