A PEOPLE CONSUMED BY GREED
Written by The Nassau Guardian
Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00
The dictionary defines the word greed as a desire to acquire more than one needs or
deserves.
By Errington I Watkins
It would be safe to say that 90% of our population fall within the definition of that word (greed).
We as a people are so hell-bent on acquiring more and more wealth that we neglect our
Christian and moral duties to our spouses and children and in many cases
to our God. Businessmen, politicians, church leaders and fraternal organisations are all part of
the avarice syndrome. The other 10% are the gimme portion of the population who, for one
reason or the other, have been taken out of the race for wealth by drugs, alcohol and stress and
can be adequately described as by-products produced and eventually discarded by a society
that failed to remember that many of those discards were once useful and productive men and
women of this country who could not, or who failed in the race to acquire more.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs especially in a nation that claims to be a Christian nation. Our
spiritual leaders seem to be in a race against time to see who can build the biggest and fanciest
church, drive the latest model foreign car, dress in the most expensive name-brand suits; whose
wife can dress the best, and who can keep the prettiest and sexiest sweethearts and install
them in a nice home, supply them with foreign-made fancy jeeps and weekly trips to Miami or
Family Island outings. It seems to me that most churches in this country today are just another
business venture where the preacher (the manager) with the slickest line and sweet talk, that
draws the most members (customers), makes the most money, and in time builds the biggest
church.
I know of some reverends that are ex-convicts and many who should be in prison, that are
praising the Lord and passing the collection plates every Sunday in their mad rush to see who
can have the most members and the fattest bank account, Then there are the politicians, many
of whom are a separate breed. If one were to take a close look at the assets of some politicians
when they enter parliament and look at their net worth after five years, one would find it mind
boggling. Our Civil Service, Police, Immigration, Road Traffic, Customs, Batelco, BEC, and
many other areas of public service is riddled with persons who are obsessed with a desire to
acquire more than they need or deserve.
The word greed or avarice is the one most single reason for the break-down in our family
structure in this nation today. Parents (fathers and mothers) in their race to acquire more money
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A PEOPLE CONSUMED BY GREED
Written by The Nassau Guardian
Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00
both go to work, although they may have two or more children in the home. Because of the
early departure for the work and the late return of the parents the children, in most cases, are
left on their own to fend for themselves; which means, in many cases, that they are given
money to buy fast food meals and make out as best they can. This results in bad company, bad
habits and loss of parental control. As a result of working closely with others in the work place,
relationships are formed and nurtured and what happens next? Divorce, broken families and
stressed out kids that end up on drugs, alcohol or in Her Majesty's resort at Fox Hill.
Few of us are satisfied to live modestly any more; it is a constant race to keep up with the
"Joneses" who live in the biggest houses, have membership in most clubs and
appear to be the happiest and most comfortable people. This specious reasoning has taken
hold of young teenage girls, who are not interested in boys their own age. They seek older
middle-aged men, and in some instances geezers old enough to be their grand-dad, because
these oldsters have the magnet that the young girls are attracted to - MONEY. So with their
minds on fancy new clothes, jewellery, vacation trips and the finer things that their parents
cannot afford to give them, they are on their merry way to shame and destruction. When they
are discarded and their beauty and youth are gone and they are no longer able to attract any
man of substance, they generally turn to alcohol, drugs and prostitution, out of which often
come a number of unwanted, un-cared for innocent children.
In our society today there is a fast increasing population of homosexuals: In politics, banking,
commerce, medical profession, the clergy and the Civil Service, that are contaminating and
depraving a number of the youths in our society by violating the sanctity of their manhood, using
the old age magnet - MONEY. This depravity is fast
destroying a segment of the youth, but the attitude by National Leaders is - WHO CARES! So
much emphasis is being placed on the almighty dollar, that making money is like a religion to
some of us, even to the point of killing or maiming someone to get it. The greed displayed by
many of us in our daily lives in this society is a grave cause
for concern, as it is proven to be the natural root-cause for all the bribery and corruption in the
essential service sector of this nation.
Greed and covetousness should not have roots in a Christian nation as small as ours; but as
long as leaders and persons in high places continue this practice unabated, then I am afraid
that the - masses will continue in their wake until some day some how and in some way the
Grand Architect of the Universe will bring us to an abrupt halt.
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