If we could take away one thing to make the world a better place

I can't see how greed can have a good side. Can you give an example?

Well, the Bible says "the LOVE of money is the root of all evil" The love of money springs from pride "I want" and from greed "I want".

If pride can have a good side and a bad side, can greed also have a good and bad side too?

Pride is what makes us proud, I see no connection. We take pride in ourselves to do something that will make us proud. There is nothing evil about being proud of ourselves. We take pride in how we look when we go out. We take pride in the jobs that we do. We take pride in the things we have, and proud that we worked hard to get those things.

I believe pride is what generates the greed. Would we feel greedy unless our pride dictated it? It's all a matter of the big "I". (Isn't it annoying that we can't see the comment we are replying to?) I'm sure you mentioned Greek mythology, so I'll mention another source. Lucifer was so full of PRIDE that he tried to rise above the throne of God, and was cast down to the earth. Then he tempted Eve with his own sin of pride, telling her she could be like God, if she partook of the forbidden fruit. So, in this case, pride was at the beginning of everything. We won't start a war over this, though. You can say greed, and I'll say pride, and possibly someone else will say something else - and we can all have a little fun. Good discussion.

Wow! you make a very persuasive case for your answer. You know the Ancient Greeks felt that pride was the greatest of all 'sins' -- hubris was always the fastest way to self-destruction. hmmm... I'm still thinking greed though. I think the desire for material gain drives so many factors from war to robbery to murder. It's that self-centered core that's at the heart of greed that makes it, in my book, so bad. And yet pride plays a factor in there too. Pride, in the sense that, my needs are the most important things in the universe. Maybe pride and greed are the same thing?

Thanks for the input -- that was my thinking as well, but there have been so many great ideas that I've read as a result of this post, that I'm not so sure anymore.

It does make all the sense and that's why I said there is a very fine line between greed and aspiring to have more. And in the sense of what I was saying - aspiring to have more or better your circumstances is not the thing we need to be rid off but greed is.

While I don't advocate not having anything and living on a commune -- I do wonder when enough is enough. I like the notion of contentment, but I don't know if I'm ready to live a life that's content... does that make any sense?

you're right -- it's something I can't stand either -- I hate it when people take advantage of others.

you know as this topic has grown -- it seems like we are getting into the whole seven deadly sins thing -- not that this is bad, but it sure is interesting

Well, I would say if it's not a word, it is now! But I would say that the hunger for power is a form of greed rather than the other way around. That's a great point though! I appreciate the response. It really made me think!

When I look at it, I just see greed as wanting more at the expense of others -- regardless of whether you need it or not. it seemed to make the most sense when I posted this, but after reading so may great responses on the matter, I'm not as certain as I was.

I can't argue with that one -- why would you pick corruption above anything else? just curious!

With greed..comes corruption. It all goes back to greed.

Thanks for the thoughtful response! The only thing I can figure is that we all do the best we can to try to make the world better, and take it from there. Intolerance is certainly a powerful force in the world, and the more we discuss this the more I beginning to beelieve that all of these things -- from jealousy, to greed, to intolerance are really all the same thing in a way. Gosh, you all are making it tough to pick a best response!

I think that's the word for that! :) You make a good point with that. Part of me would say that the desire for power comes from greed, but then I what do I know? It just seems strange to me that so many people you meet seem like decent human beings and yet there is still so much corruption and wanton violence and such. Maybe it's all perception -- the news media do tend to shoe only the bad things that happen and not the good, but still. Just makes me worry about the world that my wife and I have brought kids into. I don't know if it's any better or any worse than in times past, but that doesn't have an impact on what we can make of the world. Alright -- I feel better now.

I agree that we need to get rid of greed and have more tolerance to make it a perfect world, some people have hatred or just "lack of tolerance" towards others without any logical reason or personal benefit to them, it's just inherited from the way they have been brought up or educated. they gain nothing at all out of it and they even accept to lose a lot and never stop the hatred.

you know that's a really good point -- I think sometimes people try to make sense out of senselessness as a way of trying to cope with all the evil that is out there

If you remove politics, you have anarchy. Can anarchy EVER be good? No, because people are governed by self-ness: what I want. People are governed by pride, greed and self first. No politics = anarchy = self first = disaster!

but is politics always bad? I don't know. There are some instances where political debate averted wars and such. Personal politics would be a wonderful thing to dispose of.

hmmm .. so which one would you remove? that was kinda, sorta the question you were responding to...

Now that's a great point!!!!

That IS a great point, and we must remember that HIS sin was PRIDE.

people complained about the news media being so negative several years ago (probably about 20 years ago) and the netwroks tried to show positive news stories -- no one watched them -- so they had to go back to the same ol' same ol'