The Dragon Within

Accumulating wealth is important in this day and age. We can't depend on pensions or governments or even spouses - how many times have we cringed at stories of widows and retirees forced by economic necessity to eat cat food or (worse) live at the mercy of opportunistic sadists in cut-rate retirement homes? Building a nest egg big enough to sustain us - and have enough cash in reserve for unexpected expenses and dreams - is one part survival, one part indulgence, and one part "eeooooo, gross", but, ultimately, it's really just simple common sense.

Some of us get a little out of whack, though. We grasp. We hoard. We backstab. We ignore responsibility and opt for power instead - not power over ourselves, of course, but over our pasts, our circumstances, and the people around us. When that happens, when the motive goes from duty and comfort to domination and malice, we've moved to a darker place - greed.

Here's a simple test - whether it's stocks, art, books, collectibles, or the truffle oil stockpiled in the pantry, ask yourself, "can I part with it?" If the answer is "yes," then do so, with at least one item, right now. Put it on eBay, donate it, send it to a friend, use it tonight for dinner, I don't care. But physically pick it up and at least move it to another place, one not carefully designated "my stuff." Did you hesitate? Can't do it at all? Then your answer wasn't really "yes," was it?

I was there last summer. The extravaganza was amazingly hard. My avarice tends toward accumulation for its own sake, maybe because I moved so many times in my life, or that we ping-ponged between lack and plenty for so long, I don't know. But I definitely have trouble getting rid of things, especially expensive (or seemingly expensive) items. I've been known to buy really good wine, cheese, or olives, then let them turn into compost because I'm saving it for a special occasion that never comes (because nothing's good enough). I crammed rooms to overflowing out of gluttony, but I couldn't sell it because somehow, in the holding I became a better provider or a better person than my parents were. I had things, I had resources, I had riches.

I had nothing.

I didn't know it then, and no wonder. Greed has been and is still rampaging through our world like a hungry dragon, but it's cloaked in socially acceptable clothes. It's not just about the few who screwed us, no matter what the media says; while there were certainly some major offenders in the current crisis, we were (are) all guilty little lizards. At least, I know it now.

That yard sale was an eye-opener for me, on many levels. First of all, I didn't pull everything I'd planned to sell - I just couldn't - and since the eBay market is more in the toilet than the stocks are, I'm still dealing with the remnants of that hesitation. Secondly, for what I did sell I made pennies on the dollar compared to what I spent (on things I didn't necessarily want in the first place, remember). Yes, a few items sold well, but mostly I gave things away. Thirdly - and this is important - I take more pleasure from the open space (and the knowledge that someone else is benefitting from my items) than I ever did from the things themselves. Yes, I still tend to back up like a clogged drain up sometimes (I need to go through my jewelry and my books again) but by focusing on quality instead of quantity I've made the process itself as important as the goal - I celebrate the hunt as much as the treasure, I buy for others almost as often as I buy for myself or my home, and you know I have a blast doing it.

We could have that same party every day, in every aspect of our lives, but we don't - and we should. Money, things, food, knowledge ... holding on to our personal dragon egg creates Hoover-sized dams in our streams of potential. Cash invested continues to increase (overall), but if you never spend it, if it does nothing but decorate your portfolio and give you gloating rights, then you will shrink. Your degree or certification is nice, but resting on those laurels isn't very productive - what have you done lately? Oh, and that bike, the one rusting away in the basement - you're not growing when you hold it hostage to your vanity and fear, especially since there's tons of kids out there who remember what it means to be a kid and feel the wind in their hair.

Hope and joy expand us, while avarice constricts. Greed hands us larger bottom lines and bigger inventories but makes us smaller people. We're meant to be channels for good - and for goods - not reservoirs. How can the daily treasures come to us if we have no room for them? Streams of potential must flow or they dry up, as they are doing now, and we all choke.

Start a recirculation revolution. Take up the flag and shout the battle cry - "What goes around comes around!" I'll open the canals with a shovel if I have to - the cure for this Deadly is generosity.

It's also the vaccine against it for the future.