Greed—What Is It Doing to Us?
GREED is wrecking the lives of millions. It is dehumanizing the greedy and bringing pain and grief to their victims. In your life you may well be feeling the effects of greed. Even common shoplifting increases the prices of what you buy. If your wages are low and the cost of daily essentials is beyond your reach, you are probably a victim of someone else’s greed.
The Hungry and the Dying
Greedy national self-interest impedes governments’ efforts at effectively helping the poor. As far back as 1952, scientist and nutrition expert Sir John Boyd Orr said: “Governments are prepared to unite men and resources for a world war but the Great Powers are not prepared to unite to banish hunger and poverty from the world.”—Food Poverty & Power, by Anne Buchanan.
Some semblance of aid is provided, of course. But what is the reality of life for the poor, neglected majority of the world’s population? A recent report stated that in spite of increased food output in some areas, “hunger and malnutrition still stalk the majority of the world’s poor . . . One-fifth [over one billion] of the world’s people goes hungry every day.” The report goes on to say: “In addition, 2 billion people suffer from ‘hidden hunger’ because of . . . [diet] deficiencies which can lead to serious disorders.” (Developed to Death—Rethinking Third World Development) These figures should certainly make the headlines!
The Enslaved
Crime bosses enrich themselves at the expense of their victims and the public in general. Drugs, violence, prostitution, and economic exploitation enslave millions. Also, Gordon Thomas says in his book Enslaved: “According to the Anti-Slavery Society, there are an estimated 200 million slaves in the world. Some 100 million of them are children.” What is the basic cause? The report explains: “The urge to enslave remains the dark side of human nature . . . [Slavery is] the product of lust, greed and the love of power.”
The powerful dispossess the weak and vulnerable and kill many. “Of the two million Indians who were living in Brazil when the white men first arrived, perhaps two hundred thousand now survive.” (The Naked Savage) Why? The basic reason is greed.
The Growing Gap Between Wealthy and Poor
The New York Times reported that James Gustave Speth, an administrator in the United Nations Development Program, stated that “an emerging global elite . . . is amassing great wealth and power, while more than half of humanity is left out.” This dangerous gap between rich and poor is made more evident by his words: “We still have more than half the people on the planet with incomes of less than $2 a day—more than 3 billion people.” He added: “For poor people in this two-class world, it is a breeding ground for hopelessness, for anger, for frustration.”
This hopelessness is increased by the fact that many of the wealthy appear to have neither a conscience nor any compassion for the plight of the poverty-stricken and hungry masses.
The victims of greed are everywhere. See, for example, the bewildered look in the eyes of the refugees caught in the middle of struggles for power in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Liberia. See the resignation in the faces of those starving in the midst of world plenty. What is behind it all? Greed—in one form or another!
How can you survive when surrounded by greedy predators in such a hostile environment? The next two articles take up this question.