This week, the U.S. celebrates our Thanksgiving Day. Canada
celebrated a few weeks ago, and other countries have their
own days but my friends and colleagues, and the news media,
are focused on our American holiday this week. The
conversation is about gratitude and being thankful.
But since I'm a contrary sort of guy, along with gratitude,
I've been pondering our desire for even more. I suspect
thanksgiving for what we have and the desire for more
actually go together, like opposite sides of the same coin.
Clearly, gratitude is necessary to experience joy and
abundance. Without gratitude, we focus on lack or things we
"need," and we close up. We get "tight" and it's very hard
to see or seize opportunity. When we focus on what we lack,
there's poverty in the human spirit, a grasping or fear
that makes us small. Gratitude sets us free to laugh and
sing and celebrate!
At the same time, there is something wonderfully human
about optimism and a desire for "more." We are acquisitive
people. Growth and expansion and the desire for riches is
part of the human experience. It's natural to desire and
work for a better, richer life.
Remember the old movie, "Wallstreet," and Michael Douglas'
famous exclamation that, "Greed is good!"? He argued that
greed leads to investment, to study, preparation, hard work
and risk-taking. Greed motivates us.
Now obviously, the standard definition of greed is ugly.
Usually, we think of greed as a voracious desire to take
from others, no matter what the cost or moral consequences.
I want no part of that, although like most of us, I admit I
see its ugly presence in my life once in a while.
Is there, however, a positive aspect to greed? I suspect
so.
Once in a while, we see people who are so focused on giving
that they are unable to receive. While generalities are
always dangerous, in my experience I've seen it most often
in women who are so focused on caring for others that they
fail to care for themselves. Obviously, this is not gender-
specific, but some people even have a hard time graciously
accepting praise or a compliment. They feel awkward winning
a prize or accepting a gift.
I often wonder how that holds us back and limits us.
I think of Life trying to give us abundance, trying to
offer us wealth and opportunity but some of us are so
concerned about not being "greedy" that we close our hands
and refuse the gift. I see that as a false humility, an
insult to God and Life. We live in an abundant, beautiful
world. We live in a time of unlimited opportunity and
endless variety, and yet sometimes in trying to be
"grateful" we think small and refuse the richness around
us.
Just to be contrary and daring, this Thanksgiving, I
encourage you to be grateful for all you have, and to think
in terms of how you will use your wealth to create and
contribute even more! As you pause to give thanks, take a
moment to review your goals for 2017. Think about what you
will do with all you have! Imagine what's possible!
This week, pause to give thanks for life, for health and
wealth, for loved ones and education and all that surrounds
us, but also imagine yourself as a steward of these things.
Imagine yourself taking care of them, cherishing them, and
investing your riches to increase them in 2017. Gratitude
is good, but so is "greed," in the healthy sense of using
what we have to create even more for ourselves and others.
We have much to be thankful for. Gratitude is good and
right and necessary. But so is the ancient blessing: "May
you and your tribe increase in the year ahead!"
celebrated a few weeks ago, and other countries have their
own days but my friends and colleagues, and the news media,
are focused on our American holiday this week. The
conversation is about gratitude and being thankful.
But since I'm a contrary sort of guy, along with gratitude,
I've been pondering our desire for even more. I suspect
thanksgiving for what we have and the desire for more
actually go together, like opposite sides of the same coin.
Clearly, gratitude is necessary to experience joy and
abundance. Without gratitude, we focus on lack or things we
"need," and we close up. We get "tight" and it's very hard
to see or seize opportunity. When we focus on what we lack,
there's poverty in the human spirit, a grasping or fear
that makes us small. Gratitude sets us free to laugh and
sing and celebrate!
At the same time, there is something wonderfully human
about optimism and a desire for "more." We are acquisitive
people. Growth and expansion and the desire for riches is
part of the human experience. It's natural to desire and
work for a better, richer life.
Remember the old movie, "Wallstreet," and Michael Douglas'
famous exclamation that, "Greed is good!"? He argued that
greed leads to investment, to study, preparation, hard work
and risk-taking. Greed motivates us.
Now obviously, the standard definition of greed is ugly.
Usually, we think of greed as a voracious desire to take
from others, no matter what the cost or moral consequences.
I want no part of that, although like most of us, I admit I
see its ugly presence in my life once in a while.
Is there, however, a positive aspect to greed? I suspect
so.
Once in a while, we see people who are so focused on giving
that they are unable to receive. While generalities are
always dangerous, in my experience I've seen it most often
in women who are so focused on caring for others that they
fail to care for themselves. Obviously, this is not gender-
specific, but some people even have a hard time graciously
accepting praise or a compliment. They feel awkward winning
a prize or accepting a gift.
I often wonder how that holds us back and limits us.
I think of Life trying to give us abundance, trying to
offer us wealth and opportunity but some of us are so
concerned about not being "greedy" that we close our hands
and refuse the gift. I see that as a false humility, an
insult to God and Life. We live in an abundant, beautiful
world. We live in a time of unlimited opportunity and
endless variety, and yet sometimes in trying to be
"grateful" we think small and refuse the richness around
us.
Just to be contrary and daring, this Thanksgiving, I
encourage you to be grateful for all you have, and to think
in terms of how you will use your wealth to create and
contribute even more! As you pause to give thanks, take a
moment to review your goals for 2017. Think about what you
will do with all you have! Imagine what's possible!
This week, pause to give thanks for life, for health and
wealth, for loved ones and education and all that surrounds
us, but also imagine yourself as a steward of these things.
Imagine yourself taking care of them, cherishing them, and
investing your riches to increase them in 2017. Gratitude
is good, but so is "greed," in the healthy sense of using
what we have to create even more for ourselves and others.
We have much to be thankful for. Gratitude is good and
right and necessary. But so is the ancient blessing: "May
you and your tribe increase in the year ahead!"
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