There is no doubt that the wealthy have become wealthier and that the poor have remained poor.
By Toby Reid VPOE
In human history, the gap between the rich and the poor has never been wider. While this imbalance among our species is currently at its peak, it is happening precisely as our long-term viability and sustainability appears in its darkest hour.
Some have suggested that the wealthier part of the human spectrum are ‘hoarding for the apocalypse’, a grim future of depleted resources that will turn humans on themselves, ultimately collapsing our species, and likely precipitating the collapse of thousands of other species in the process.
The apocalyptic part may very well prove to be true, but to suggest that the wealthier people are somehow foreseeing this calamity and acting in a way to get ready for it is simply giving them too much credit (plus, you can’t eat gold).
We are in this evolutionary mess because we have been hell bent on amassing as much wealth as we can. We have falsely bought in to the ideology that more is better and that growth, no matter the cost, is good. It’s our state of being that has brought about a devastatingly harsh looking world, not the other way around.
I know. I worked for four years at Canada’s largest investment firm. I saw on a daily basis financial professionals who stepped all over each other, and their clients, simply to make a buck. There were exceptions to this rule (“beacons of hope” I called them) and there continues to be today, but by and large, I saw a majority of people subscribing to Gordon Gecko’s ‘greed is good’ call to arms. In doing so, they ruined the chances of the exceptions to be viewed in a fair light, casting their greedy shadows across the entire industry. Sadly, their example has trickled down from Bay Street to Main Street, and in my view, across the human species as a whole.
The fact of the matter is, those who are so bent on amassing wealth and who are devoid of consideration for the communal effect on our social, environmental and economic well-being are simply greedy psychopaths. That may sound harsh, but folks, it’s the plain truth. A psychopath is defined as a person who acts narcissistically, out of pure self-interest, and who has no conscience to be able to empathize, or understand, how their actions may be negatively affecting their fellow human beings. Their brothers, their sisters, their parents, their co-workers, their golfing buddies and, saddest of all, their children.
These greedy psychopaths can be rich, poor, politicians, captains of industry – it doesn’t matter. We have a whole bunch of human beings running around this planet who are driven by self-interest and who lack a conscience for how their actions, and our collective actions, are affecting the health and sustainability of our communities, and our species as a whole.
Stephen Harper? Greedy psychopath (even more so after this week – I didn’t think it was possible). Karlheinz Schreiber and Brian Mulroney? One of them is a greedy psychopath and the other is the criminal version. Bernard Madoff? Very greedy psychopath. Kenneth Lay (of Enron fame)? Foolish, greedy psychopath. Chinese-Canadian investor Weizhen Tang (we’ll hear more about this guy)? Greedy psychopath. Yes, these are all extreme examples, but the point is that this is what is happening. Even more troublesome is that there are plenty more moderate greedy psychopaths out there, quite a large number of them in fact, and we should all be extremely wary of them.
The completely amazing disconnect, that I feel, is that we all know we wouldn’t leave our children under the care and supervision of a greedy psychopath, yet that’s exactly who we’re letting shape the world that we live in, to be handed on to the next generation. Politicians, economists, business leaders. These are the people who have the most profound influence on how we as a species participate with each other in commerce, policy and planning. Too many of us have sat back and said “well, my property value has gone up, so things are good” or “my RSP returned 18% last year so I feel secure” or “my company bonus increased over last year so let’s keep it going!” We have fallen victim to the same defective way of thinking ourselves.
The good news is that we are waking up to this reality. In the US, they’ve brought in a change of government, but more importantly, a change of perspective and a change in example for others. Here in BC, we’ve brought in the carbon tax, which has upset many, but is a visionary act of policy. We are seeing on a daily basis that people, humans like us, are deciding enough is enough. Growth isn’t the bottom line. More isn’t necessarily good. Greed will destroy us.
So there is hope people. And lots of it. In fact, more than we can conceive of at this point in time. And the first place we all should turn to in seeking out hope and seeking out a change that will be to the benefit of us all is to start right at home, in ourselves, and then to project that vision for change and betterment out to the wider world. You see, hope shores up belief, and belief can move mountains.
Every single one of us has the ability to move our own personal mountains. Some may be bigger, some more jagged and some may still yet only be foothills. But make no mistake, the only times we’ve ever had positive change, is when it’s come from the benevolent few who would not surrender their values, who would not give up on making things better and whose passion, determination and perseverance finally won the day.
If you’re questioning the world and what we’ve done to it, well, the answer starts in you. How serious are you willing to be about seeking out your truth? Hopefully very serious, because we are now in desperate times, and the world needs way less greedy psychopaths.
Toby Reid is a congenital naturalist, intrinsic humanist, environmental entrepreneur and all around fun loving guy (yes, it’s true) who likes to ask questions. He lives in Vancouver, BC.
