Being greedy, for centuries despised as one of the Seven Deadly Sins or, in more secular terms simply seen as subhuman, has now been rehabilitated. Greed is becoming a virtue.
The process is going on even as we read. Not all have bowed the knee to greed, but the evidence is all around us, in the private realm and public policy.
“It’s time to focus on ourselves” comes the advice, sent by words and symbols and action, in tweets and sermons, ads and popular songs. It echoes in “Make America great again!” and ”Mother Russia knows best!” and ”Our great leader is the absolute tops – and so are we, his ever-loyal people – you better not forget it!” whenever North Korea flaunts its massive military power. And the whole world paid the price when Adolf Hitler and his cronies thundered their slogan. “Deutschland über Alles.” Focusing on ourselves – our prosperity, our dreams, our privilege – without regard to the welfare of all – is more dangerous than we think.
It seems that more—nations, groups and private individuals—are pushing to be Number One. Greed is replacing altruism. Ah, but here’s the rub: the simple-minded shortcut to that goal is to put down others. Cancel your concern for others; go for what will make you rich or famous, safely set at the center of your shrunken world.
Have things always been that way? Many a student of world affairs would say so. Thus Robert Kagan (who, let it be noted, is widely seen as a neoconservative but prefers to call himself a liberal—how slippery labels can be!) writes in The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, “very few nations in history have ever felt any responsibility for anything but themselves.” That’s what makes the current situation so scary: If nations are essentially self-centered, and if in the present social climate societies are fragmented, each subgroup focused on its own interests with little regard for the rights of others – are we not in deep trouble?
In times of trouble, some things don’t help. Snapshot examples from recent news reports make the point:
Turkey, in spite of its links to NATO, the European Union and the West, seizes the first opportunity to attack the Kurds, who for years have been our friends and allies. Turks show no signs of willingness to look at the larger perspective, to negotiate, choosing instead to kill thousands with little likelihood of retaliation.
Donald J. Trump proclaims “Globalism is dead,” even adding a spirit of defiance by making his statement at the UN, the very heart of human hopes for reconciliation and global understanding.
“I am a nationalist,” he also declares. “That’s who I am.” Hm-mm, we wonder, isn’t that a pretty good translation of what Adolf Hitler used to say? We know that millions died as a result of Hitler’s narrow nationalism … what makes us think the results will be different this time around? If we won’t learn from history, are we condemned to repeat it?
As the U.S. pulls out of solidarity agreements with other nations—the Paris Climate Accord, for example—it becomes clear that a narrow nationalism is more than a slogan, it becomes policy. Do the American people really mean, “Too bad about those dying because of climate change … but we have reliable heating and air conditioning and we’re not eating garbage, so we’re OK. And thankful!”
The people of Britain, for a range of reasons, vote to leave the European Union, so dealing a blow to the neighbors with whom they must still deal, and to the very concept of working together toward shared goals.
Andrew Scheer, in 2019 a leading candidate to become Canada’s Prime Minister, campaigns on a platform of cutting foreign aid 25 percent. To understand his widespread support. we must go beyond such simple solutions as supposing that when people struggle to make a decent living, they won’t willingly be taxed to help others.
Let’s be clear: putting ourselves first without regard for what will happen to others is not a malady of leaders alone. It is a sickness widely shared. Some would say it’s part of being human.
OH YEAH?
But wait—further truth has yet to be tossed into the mix. For every voice telling us that concern for others is done for, there is a chorus asking, Oh yeah? They are unrelenting in their efforts to do what they can for good.
One example is former President Jimmy Carter, who with his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center. In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo he said.
“I am not here as a public official, but as a citizen of a troubled world who has hope in a growing consensus that the generally accepted goals of society are peace, freedom, human rights, environmental quality, the alleviation of suffering, and the rule of law.
He continued,
“At the beginning of this new millennium I was asked to discuss, here in Oslo, the greatest challenge that the world faces. Among all the possible choices, I decided that the most serious and universal problem is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on earth. Citizens of the ten wealthiest countries are now seventy-five times richer than those who live in the ten poorest ones, and the separation is increasing every year, not only between nations but also within them. The results of this disparity are root causes of most of the world’s unresolved problems, including starvation, illiteracy, environmental degradation, violent conflict, and unnecessary illnesses that range from Guinea worm to HIV/AIDS.”
(The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, by Jimmy Carter (c) 2002 by Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, p. 15 & ff.)
An effective venture by people who cared about others focuses on the British Parliament voting to end slave traffic throughout the Empire. This was in 1807, 56 terrifying years before Emancipation became law in the United States … and it passed without a Civil War! Parliament was energized by William Wilberforce, a politician with the clear Christian conviction that slavery was an affront to the Creator. Wilberforce’s message also influenced a slave trader to get out of the business. His name was John Newton, who spelled out his personal story in “Amazing Grace.”
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”
The words date from 1772 yet remain popular; some estimate they are sung about 10 million times a year. More than that, Newton turned his life around: he spent the rest of his days advocating for the very people he had once delivered into captivity. Ending slavery in the United States took longer, even going through a Civil War and the Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Though the goal has not yet been achieved, who would deny that progress has been made?
When people rally for justice, as in the March on Washington, 1960, they show they care.
After World War II, when Europe and part of Asia lay in ruins and the future looked very bleak, an American Army general, George C. Marshall, called not for revenge or for turning away from the agonizing work of rebuilding. Result: the most massive people-to-people, tax-supported, sustained, cross-borders help ever attempted. Question: Is it just coincidence that we have enjoyed the longest period of comparative peace in world history … and that the Axis Powers, for years our worst enemy, have been among our staunchest allies? From the vantage point of six decades of history, was reaching out in forgiveness and friendship better than continued anger and revenge? If so, credit belongs not just to George Marshall but to all the people who support a global rather than a self-centered, nationalistic approach.
The very first shipload of Marshall Plan relief reaches France. (At the time I was an aid worker with Le Cimade, witnessing close-up evidence of a new birth of hope.)
An exercise
Pair up the statements below with an area of the map. On a scale of 1 – 10, how accurately do they reflect current attitudes? What is their effect on people’s relationships, immigration policy, foreign affairs, tourism?
Decent people there; why don‘t they just join us?
Very bad Arabs! But some are OK – the ones that sell us oil.
Good for getting gold and tin, and as a place to dump our recycles and garbage.
They’re rich, they’re smart, but they’re not to be trusted
Drug addicts, rapists, crooks, terrorists – keep ‘em out! Build a wall!
IN SUMMARY
We’ve opened up a big subject here; no quick answer will capture its complexities. Still, here is one attempt:
“Me first” – whether lived out by individuals, nations or ethnic groups – is deceptive and death- dealing.
At the other end of the spectrum, no human being is expected to surrender all self-concern.
The real danger of our time is not altruism but egocentricity.
Families function best when members care for one another; so the human family is designed to be a caring community. The test we all face is whether we will learn to live as caring people before it is too late.
What’s your answer?