BY ABP. OSCAR CRUZ
“THERE is enough for everyone’s need; there is not enough for anyone’s greed,” says Mahatma Gandhi.
The profound words of wisdom are not only true but also plain. It is both a rational and realistic conclusion.
It is not merely the truth in the realm of ethics but also in the sphere of morals. It is in fact a teaching of both experience and history. And so it is that greed is a phenomenal curse not only for its victims but also for the greedy – the covetous, the avaricious, the rapacious.
The agents of greed do not know much less feel what is enough such that they continuously need more and get more – grab more.
Although they can live in but one house, they feel the imperative of having three, five or even more palatial homes and/or luxurious condo units.
Although they have but one body to be brought here and there, they find it but proper and also necessary to have two, four or even more classy vehicles to choose from.
Greedy people – be these politicians, capitalists, businessmen – have successfully erased the word “enough” in their thoughts and day-to-day living.
Covetous individuals continuously crave for more and more possessions, assets, wealth – irrespective of the ways and means. Honesty, integrity, trustworthiness have been successfully deleted from their conscience. Never mind the people living under the bridges, by the canals if not in the sidewalks. Let the poor, the hungry, and the sick take care of themselves. What they do, how they do it – this is their own business.
The truth is that greed is a personality deficit in the same way that covetousness is a malady in one’s personality constitution.
The greedy and the covetous refuse to learn, to accept the infallible and plain truth that empty-handed they came to the world, and necessarily empty handed they also leave it – living behind even their coffin.
Place but a one peso coin in the hand of someone dead. In due time, the dead is altogether gone, returning to dust wherefrom he came. But the little coin infallibly remains behind.
So it is that a big number of the public officials in the country – from the local to the national levels – are the living examples of greed and covetousness.
It took the infamous Priority Development Assistance Fund to display the incarnate greed and covetousness of a signal number of government functionaries from top to bottom. People they do not serve but victimize. Citizens they do not care for but rather steal from.
Gandhi said it well – so very well. Greed is a curse. And the greedier a public official is, a bigger curse he becomes to the general public. This is an elementary and living truth./PN
