Avarice: we covet wealth but the snag is it
takes time and effort to earn money. Money buys
you the begrudging respect of shallow people.
Money also happens to buy you possessions. I
like possessions I freely admit. It's a strange
thing though, now I have more possessions than
ten years ago, but I honestly can't say this
has made me happier.
Money is like computing power. I am sitting
on front of vastly more powerful computer than
I did ten years ago, but I honestly can't say
I enjoy my computer more. A tenfold increase
in processor speed has not brought about a corresponding
tenfold increase in delight. If anything computers
are less fun these days. Microsoft has made
modern computing boring. Windows makes computing
feel like more of a chore than an exciting and
creative pastime. Talking of Microsoft, Bill
Gates has a mountain range of money of Himalayan
proportions and yet he is bland and insipid.
I'm sure there is a moral in there somewhere.
(Please boycott greedy Microsoft and MSN, they
are corporate evil incarnate. Also, support
the benevolent, non-averice-driven
Open
Source software movement and Linux in particular!
But I digress.)
The key point is that, once we have obtained
them, we rapidly take the most yearned for possessions
for granted. A side effect of owning more possessions
is that more things can go horribly wrong, and
more things
DO go horribly wrong! The
more shit you have, the more shit happens. For
example, when my car breaks down my reaction
isn't -
thank dear fortune I have a car in
the first place! On the contrary, my reaction
is a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I curse like a trooper and miserably ponder
the inconvenience of getting some dodgy geezer
to fix the accursed thing. Woe and thrice woe!
Owning a car caused my happiness quota to drop
through the floor. And now I have to earn more
to pay for its maintenance, and so the vicious
circle continues.
The more money one has, the more potential it
has to inflame us, to enrage us even. That splendid
Roman philosopher, Seneca, noted that the extremely
rich, and he moved in the highest circles of
Rome, were often the most irritable people,
enraged by trifles.
In our world, the price of avarice is that happiness
isn't dependant on friends, loved ones and leisure,
but instead it is pinned to work, and lifeless
entities like the economy. Your sense of well
being is indexed to fickle graphs of stocks
and shares. Your
money dictates to
you when you feel fine and went to be grumpy.
Next time you receive spam or are subjected
to other forms of loathsome, intrusive advertising,
be mindful that other people's avarice will
vex you, even if your own avarice hasn't finished
you off. Yet.
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