Greed

Today I am master of social interactions
Business, politics, relationships and family
I feed off ignorance and apathy
With mutual reinforcement
I want and take more than I morally deserve
And demand undeserved subsidies and privileges
I motivate dictators, politicians and governments
To seek and maintain power
I am protected from competion
And sustained by voter apathy
For the cost of organizing and lobbing
Is greater than the voter's own benefit
I depend upon apathy to subdue social action
I cringe in the presence of sympathy
For sympathy can replace me with giving
I depend on the absence of sympathy
And benefit from the fruits of ignorance
I encourage ignorance to be reinforced by apathy
And I exploit ignorance in those
With insufficient sympathy to rebuke me
I reluctantly acknowledge sympathy
As a stronger motivator than self-interest
However, I encourage selfishness
To be the master motive of human action
I hide in the darkness of the human soul
And shun the light of righteousness
I am furious when I am replaced
With knowledge, sympathy, charity and forgiveness
For my name is Greed

Roy L. Nave
2002