THOU SHALT NOT BE GREEDY!

Jonathan is the only child. So, when his father died, he became the heir of the land. But he wasn't happy; he wanted more land. Once, a stranger came by, apparently a man of means and power, and offered to give him all the land he could walk around in one day, on condition that he would be back at the spot from which he started by sundown.

Early the next morning, the boy set out, without eating any breakfast or greeting anyone. His first plan was to cover six square kilometers. When he finished the first six, he decided to make it nine, then twelve, then fifteen. That meant he would have to walk 60 kilometers before sundown. By noon, he had covered 30 kilometers. He did not stop for food or drink. His legs grew heavier and heavier.

About 200 yards from the finish line, Jonathan saw the sun dropping toward the horizon. Only a few minutes left. He gathered all his energies for that one last effort. He staggered across the line, just in time. Then, he reached for his heart and fell down in a heap � dead. All the land he got was a piece six feet by two.

Meanwhile, one summer afternoon on the Mississippi River, a steamer crowded with passengers suddenly struck a submerged rock. In a moment, the deck was a wild confusion. The lifeboats were able to take off only one-fourth of all the passengers. The rest tore off their clothes, and swam ashore.

After everyone had deserted the overturned ship, a man suddenly appeared on the leaning deck. He grabbed a loose piece of wood and then jumped into the river. But he sank like a stone.

When his body was recovered, it was found that while the other passengers were busy escaping, he was also busy breaking open and robbing their trunks and baggage. Many of them were miners returning home with their treasure. This thief gathered their gold, tied little bags of it around his waist and within 30 minutes he had more gold than most men would have in a lifetime. But those gold dragged him to the bottom of the river in an instant.

Both stories have one thing in common � they all die of greed. Millions of people would rather die to get more wealth. "We're all born brave, trusting and greedy," Mignon McLaughlin once commented, "and most of us remain greedy."

"Greed has three facets: love of things, love of fame, and love of pleasure; and these can be attacked directly with frugality, anonymity, and moderation," says Paul Martin.

Don't be greedy to own everything what you want � or you end up with nothing at all. There was a poor man who complained loudly that life had been unfair. "Most of those who are rich did nothing to gain their wealth," he wailed to anyone who would listen. "They inherit their money from their parents."

One day, as the man was walking home after having expressed his bitter feelings to some of his friends, Fortune appeared before him and said, "I have decided to provide you with wealth. Hold out your purse, and I will fill it with gold coins. But there is one condition: if any of the gold fails out of the purse onto the ground everything I gave you will become dust. Be careful. I see that your purse is old; do not overload it."

The poor man was overjoyed. He loosened the strings of his purse and watched as Fortune started to pour a stream of golden coins into it. The wallet soon became heavy. "Is that enough?" Fortune asked.

"Not yet," the man replied. Fortune poured in several more coins, so that the purse was filled, and then asked again, "Shall I stop now?" The man answered, "Not yet, just a few more."

But at that moment, the purse split apart, the gold coins fell to the ground, and the treasure turned to dust. Fortune disappeared, and the greedy man was left with an empty wallet. Happiness, someone once remarked, can't be measured by one's wealth. A person with two million pesos may not be one bit happier than a person with one million pesos!

Greed, in fact, robs us from being happy. A teacher and the school principal were standing near the playground where the children were frolicking to their heart's content. The teacher asked the latter, "Why is it that everyone wants to be happy, but so few ever are?"

The principal looked at the playground and replied, "Those children seem to be really happy." The teacher answered back, "Why shouldn't they be? All they do is play. But what keeps the adults from being happy like that?"

"The same thing that can keep children from being happy," the principal said. Then, without saying any word, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of coins, and threw them among the playing children.

Suddenly, all laughter stopped. The children tumbled over one another, fought and argued. The principal told the teacher, "Well, what do you think ended their happiness?"

"The fighting," the teacher answered. "And what started their fighting?" the principal inquired. "Greed," the teacher said.

Yes, everybody wants to find happiness. But our greed to possess the things that will make us happy keeps happiness itself away. "One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability to distinguish our needs from our greeds," points out Don Robinson.
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