I really have lost a lot of faith in humanity. I now honestly believe that a human being's default setting is to be selfish and self-centered and overall, greedy. I understand that our capitalist society fuels and is fueled by greed, but at what point do we say that we're actually doing ourselves too much harm as a group because of greed?
I mean, we're in this economic mess because of greed. Greed is what causes people to take from others what was not freely given, and it causes harm - not just to the victim but to the perpetrator. It hurts the perpetrators because on some level, however deep inside, the they must know they're hurting someone for selfish reasons. This changes their mindset and harms their conscience and they become defensive, possibly ending more selfish and self-centered. After all, you can more easily justify your actions harming others if you can only see yourself. If you broaden your world of important people to include strangers, all of a sudden, it isn't so easy to hurt that person next to you on the train just so you can get a seat.
Anyways, what started this whole thought here is an article I read on the NY Times. Apparently, debt collection agencies have been improperly obtaining court orders to seize people's money and property. According to the article, over 101,000 court orders were improperly issued, allowing them to seize an average of $5,474 per consumer, totaling over $500 million!
In these times, more and more people are in debt. They need help, compassion and sympathy, not jerks aggressively trying to take more of their money. Where has the humanity and kindness gone?
No comments:
Post a Comment