Greed can blind.

I have a friend who told me how she got her present car. At one time she was driving a smaller car but exchanged it with the present car to help out a friend who was having financial problems. The friend just could not go on with the payment of more than a thousand ringgit a month.

According to this friend, her friend's financial situation came about as a result of some kind of get-rich-quick scheme in which she was told of an investment opportunity where the investors can get gain a lot of money. She was introduced to a group of well dressed people who told them of being in a position to obtain products at the source for a very low price when they are bought in bulk. That was truly logical. Those people knew the market where those products could be sold at a huge profit enabling them to distribute gains of between twenty and forty percent. Since the products were to be bought in bulk, those people needed a huge capital to purchase those goods. That was where the investors came in. Each investor was to contribute forty thousand ringgit (Malaysian currency) to enter the programme.

Thoughts of the amount of money which could be derived from such a venture was sufficient to stimulate most of those people at that seminar to be a part of the good fortune. Thus it was that her friend put in her money and eventually found she had been cheated of it when those people finally disappeared from the scene.

Apparently, the friend had never learned from her mistakes. Again and again, she was attracted to such schemes, each time ending as a loser. It was just a matter of time when the bank account went dry. And the sad part of it is not just the loss of money for that could be earned and replenished from hers and her husband's jobs. The sad part was the fact that her capability and intelligence did not help her to avoid such incidences, not once but many times.

This lady in fact was no simpleton who had no view of the world outside her coconut shell. She went overseas for further education, spent a number of years overseas in England and America where her qualifications enabled her to find work as a professional. So she certainly had contact with people not just in her own country and her intelligence cannot be considered low as she could compete for work in other countries. Definitely, there is a weakness despite her strengths. What is it?

From the above account, we realise it is greed, the way to easy money. Greed has been the downfall of many people great and small. As long as people do not know how to overcome the apparently natural greed in them, there are always potholes for them to crumble into. The greed for power, for wealth, for food, for even the smallest of matter can lead one to all kinds of temptations.

However, greed can be controlled, it can be taught through happenings in our everyday life, especially when our children are young. To overcome greed, teach them generosity. teach them to share. Teach them the true value of material things. Teach them what we really need in life. If we can just do this small part, we have done a lot to ensure ourselves of our children's happiness.