Letters & Opinion

We are living in the age of greed

Image of Carlton Ishmael
By Carlton Ishmael

Listening to the news and observing social media, as well as what the people have to say, has brought me to the conclusive opinion that all that is going on is about having more. Nobody seems contented and the more you have is the more you think you need to get. The obsession is about getting more.

Get more money, get another car, get a bigger paying job despite the shortages, if I have one bag of sugar, it is better to try to get ten more.

In the same way if I drive to a gas station and discover that there is a shortage, or low supply of vehicle engine oil, I should stock-up and if possible, buy the whole stock, before they run out. It’s all about self-interests. Never a thought of leaving some back so that another customer or person may get. So, as the shortages escalate, the more you will find hoarding because the concept of sharing and worrying about your neighbor is no longer a consideration.

The new concept is bulk buying and having the monopoly is now fashionable, being the only source, being in a position to dictate and determine if you can, or should be considerate, or just be in control of supplies, or just having the power.

This reminds me of a friend who had about five dozen brand new pairs of top-brand shoes and he always ensured that he bought every new brand regardless of the cost, just to impress, but lo and behold, some two years later most had become dry-rot and he had just lost a fortune because that asset, that love for brands and holding on to that hoarding concept has its repercussions.

Today almost everybody thinks of self, the brotherhood or neighbourhood does not exist. If by chance you were too late to capture your share or did not have the money at that time to do like another, then you will be left with none because Mr Greedy Joe had already swept-up the lot. The cost of every service has gone up since COVID, plus the addition of the War in Ukraine, it seemed that every businessman or woman with a capitalistic mind, was just waiting for such an occurrence to show their true colors, and by extension let their greed showcase.

Getting by these days is by any means, whether through fraudulent means, theft, manipulation, extortion, even committing murder. The trend is wide spread and the behavior is common. The values of today are not about preservation, or growing together, instead it is about self-interests. A lot of people are falling through the cracks, the means of getting and having is becoming difficult and impossible for many and if you don’t have the right connections or not allied to the parties’ coat-tails, then you are left to struggle on your own.

Gone are the days when it was ‘us’ the family, ‘our’ neighbour or ‘my friend’, now is ‘I alone’ and I find the way the means even though it means dancing with the Devil himself.  The will of God or through prayers or being virtuous are all old-fashioned and a dying concept, ‘Good’ or ‘God’ is no longer in the equation. So, what is going on is just the beginning of things to come. As the singer Minelle spouted out before she had such a barbaric mishap, we are surely living in the last days. And it’s not about sharing or having a Godly spirit, is about man at the height of his greed.

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