Greed is the excessive desire to accumulate money and wealth.
From the Latin avaritia , avarice is the disordered and excessive desire or desire to possess wealth in order to hoard it . From a religious point of view it is a sin and a vice since it transcends what is legal and what is morally acceptable.
Avarice differs from greed since the latter involves the excessive desire for wealth , although without the will to hoard it. Greedy beings try to accumulate all kinds of material goods but are not willing to spend or share them.
For example: «My uncle Raúl has been saving all his life and, although he knows that he will not live many more years, his greed prevents him from enjoying his fortune» , «Don't be greedy and share your wealth with those most in need» , «Miguel does not He could be more miserly if he tried: he allows his daughter to live on the street, knowing that he has sufficient means to help her; only because he expects her to get her own money through effort, regardless of the circumstances, just as he claims to have done in his youth .
Greed, sin and crime
It is common for greed to appear linked to other sins or certain crimes , such as betrayal, fraud and bribery. The miser only aims to add more and more wealth and does not know any legal or ethical limit to fulfill his objective. If it is necessary to harm another person or go beyond the law , he has no problem doing so.
The link that the miser establishes between happiness and material possessions is condemned by religions, maintaining that associating pleasure with an object prevents full development on a personal level and distances us from the spiritual dimension.
Charles Dickens portrayed greed through Ebenezer Scrooge, the protagonist of "A Christmas Carol."
Ebenezer Scrooge, an iconic person
One of the literary works associated with the Christmas festival with the greatest impact worldwide is without a doubt " A Christmas Story " , one of the titles for which the Spanish translation of Charles Dickens ' novel called « A Christmas Carol » , published in 1843 and the subject of countless film adaptations and children's versions.
Its protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge , is a very miserly old man who leads a sad and lonely life , completely dedicated to work , in which there is no room for Christmas. This is a man who does not see beyond his material wealth, and who is horrified at the mere idea of helping someone financially. The person closest to him, Bob Cratchit , is his only employee and works under conditions typical of the exploitation.
But Scrooge 's life takes an unexpected turn on the night of December 24, when the ghost of an old friend appears in front of him and tells him that the greed that has characterized him all his life will become a heavy and extensive chain. that he will be forced to drag for the rest of eternity. The spectrum adds that there is still time to change, to save yourself from said condemnation , and that to do so you must accept the company of three spirits, to whom you must follow and listen carefully.
Next, the three ghosts of Christmas appear one by one: the one of the Past , the one of the Present and the one of the Future . Each one takes him through different scenarios of his life, dramatic stories that try to explain the terrible consequences that greed has had for him and his environment, and warn him of the misfortunes that await him. The work of the spirits is not in vain, since they manage to open his eyes. Finally, Scrooge puts aside his contempt for the poor and a strong vocation to help, to share and to pursue inner wealth is born in him, a concept that until then he had unknown.