Greed, mind and awareness

This evening, I watched a man with a trolley cart at one of the boxes taking out some pieces of coconut candy from a torn plastic bag. I watched as he removed some pieces and held the pieces in his hand. Of course, i did not see him tear open the plastic bag. Still, open or not, he should not remove the pieces from that torn bag. Suddenly, he realised that i was observing him. Aware of being watched, he stopped, closed his fist and moved off. I followed at a discreed distance and found him putting one piece after another into his mouth. Obviously, the man had no intention to pay for it.

All that happened in a supermarket. I wonder how many times this same man had done this while shopping. After encountering such a person, I can now understand how some bags or packages of food were sometimes left exposed or open. There must have been the same pilfering that i had just noticed.

This man must have been one of those who constantly do this, knowing that it is difficult to catch him redhanded. Furthermore, by the time he reached the cashier's counter, the food would have disappeared into his stomach. Unless a bothersome X-ray is done on him, the evidence is no longer to be seen.

This is clearly a demostration of that weakness in humans that we call greed. Greed has been the downfall of many a human. And it looks like almost everyone, except those who have discipline, is suscepible to greed. Politicians turn corrupt because of greed. You would have thought the filthy rich would not be easily led astray on the path. Unfortunately, history tells us otherwise. Even the guardians of the peace, our law enforcers, fall easily into its web. And the lure to greed is always there at every corner of life.

Those who manage to conquer greed are those who are strong in character and are true believers of God. The weak fall to its lure and find themselves in trouble in one way or another.

Those who always escape from being caught or never become aware of the wrong that they do are in worse trouble. You see, these people would be the bad example for their own families, perhaps even teaching them or encouraging such a weakness. Some may even show pride in escaping detection and numb their conscience. When the concience of a human is numbed or lost, that human is no longer human any more. Without conscience, that human will sink into the deepest, darkest, vile traits the world can ever think of.

Therefore, Man, who is given a mind which comes together with a conscience must use it well and correctly, failing which he descends to a level lower than the lowest animals.