Mine!

Ethics is a study on how to understand ourselves and others so we can get along well. This isn’t a religious study. Civility is a universal principle and having the ability to negotiate and understand are valuable traits to have. Getting along with ourselves and others is necessary to get the most out of our talents, dreams and relationships. This is the essence of a happy life. Let’s continue looking at wealth and its effect on people.

We have looked at the traits of a truly liberal person and also prodigal behavior. Terms we put on human behavior always have variations because we are all diverse. The principles that maximize our particular personalities and talents have similarities and it is these similarities that we are studying. Next we will take a look at a possessive person and will finish up with the traits of a prosperous person. Aristotle calls a possessive person ‘mean’ and a prosperous person ‘magnificence’. 

There are many types of possessiveness. We use names like stingy or miserly and I am sure you can think of others. They fall short in two areas; they give too little and take too much. All types fall short in giving but they vary in how and where they fall short in taking. Some hoard money out of an honest fear of failure. They have a good motive for keeping what they have, yet fall short in giving to others. Another kind doesn’t like to pay out and assumes everyone else is that way. It causes them to be shy about receiving from others. This person thinks they are being honorable and ends up paralyzed in both giving and receiving.  

There is a type of possesiveness that is based in malice. This is the extortioner who will take money any way possible; pimps, mobsters and those who take advantage of others by charging high rates of interest. Those who do it small time, we might call a gangster or a burglar.  Those who are into it big time would be a despot or a politician who is prone to plunder. They all have the same thing in common and that is the sordid love of gain. They are willing to endure the disgrace of it and are willing to rip their friends off in the process. Getting ahead is all that matters to this person and honor is secondary. This form of taking from the wrong sources isn’t admirable; it is the worst kind of possessiveness.

Being possessive comes natural to humans and is what we consider the opposite of liberality. It is worse to most observers than being an over-spender. Next we will examine prosperity and the traits of a prosperous person.