AVARICE

How much is too much?

I am talking about the money,

the wealth accumulation,

the hoarding.

And when did it stop to matter,

about the how?

Honest hard work,

smart work,

opportunistic

generational wealth,

corrupted,

manipulated,

stolen.

Why the means doesn’t matter anymore?

Why greed is leading the carcasses?

Why are we letting it?

I know we come from broken homes.

Homes where darkness was all that was.

Hunger, and not just in our stomachs,

in our eyes too,

clothes,

shelter,

all scarce.

Childhood never existed in those homes.

Forced to grow up, we all,

so we could beat that darkness,

run away from that claustrophobia

of responsibilities,

of helplessness,

of poverty.

And we did, didn’t we all!

We escaped.

Escaped hundreds and thousands of miles away.

We live in the lights now.

City lights all around us.

Twenty four seven.

But sometimes that darkness that we left behind,

creeps inside of us,

and rattles our heart,

at every chance it gets!

Everytime we take rest,

everytime we tell ourselves that we have arrived,

that we can take it easy from here,

it shakes our mind and reminds us

that there is no stopping,

that there is no resting,

that this is not enough,

that we need more,

and that we mustn’t stop till every fibre of our being is taken away by our ambition,

and all that would be left of us would be our soul less body of flesh and bones and blood, ready to fall into our graves.

But I thought, Ambition was a good thing,

and good things don’t make you feel empty,

or dark,

or confused,

or competitive,

or jealous,

or superior,

or inferior,

or sick,

or lonely.

But Greed does!

So, why are we not drawing the line?

Why are we forever chasing?

Why are we not content?

Why do we not have the answer to this question,

How much is too much?

JSD