Love is the strongest emotion that conquers all, having capabilities that go beyond normal parameters of human foibles and limitations. However, love has a dark side when obsession takes over; modern society has spawned an offshoot of love:  love of money, love of material goods, love of possessions. To the detriment of family, friends, and humanity, greed has taken over as a very strong emotion that is love.

The evolution of love has been a positive one, but the revolution of love has turned into jealousy, envy, and greed. It is now the norm is for both parents to work and at times, one questions the motivation for doing so. Is it for sheer survival, or is it so one can acquire more material goods; amass more wealth; keep up with the “Jones”; fulfill the perspective of “entitlement”? Coveting thy neighbor’s wealth is envy coupled with love of possessions.

The love of all things material does come with a price, paid dearly by one’s children and grandchildren. The phenomenon of latch-key kids, lonesome children, lack of guidance or supervision becomes an everyday occurrence. When parents come home, they are too tired to contend with family issues, after a hard day’s work.  In response to lack of attention, kids turn to drugs; to neighborhood gangs; or are babysat by machines, when all they want is a little time with their parents. This is a direct result of society wanting more, greed having taken over many people.

Greed, or the love of money has been the bane of many family relationships, the source of sibling rivalry, the reason for estrangement between parent and offspring.  Witness the animosity at a reading of the will, when a recipient does not receive what has been expected. Witness the jealousy and anger when one offspring has received more than another.  Witness the hatred when nothing has been allotted by the deceased.  Watch also how materials from a house can be cleared out by the nearest living relative, before the lawyer has had opportunity to distribute what had previously been spoken for. These are all examples of pure greed, and being family does not figure into the equation.

Rich parents control their children through money, waving the trust fund in front of them when they detour. Conversely, see how trust-fund babies behave as they mature, totally without morals or values, as money has taken over their usefulness. They live a life of little use, except to provide fodder for gossip media and as examples to other young people who look to them as role models.

Once bitten, greed becomes a strong emotion that hangs on like a drug addiction. The more money one has, the more one wants, and the green-eyes monster never seems to be satisfied, waiting for the next high of monetary accumulation. 

Greed can cause a person to lose control of common sense; charity for other human beings; little compassion for the plight of the little guy.  Greed is not driven by love of people, but consumed by “love of…”, as one loses sight of what life is really all about. In this case, the delicate balance between good and evil has just been tipped too much to one side.

While love can be and is often vulnerable, a greedy person stops feeling those emotions that make them susceptible to the outside world. Where love deals with substance and quality, greed hones in on superficiality. As one pays lip service to love of people and the world around him, he/she often turns the other cheek to the love of money and the cultivation of greed.  While love is often what one finds at the end of the rainbow, greed is the road one hoes to achieve that illusive pot of gold under the fabled rainbow.

Greed is an insatiable want, a need to fill a bottomless void.  It cannot make a person happy, as materialism cannot replace substance and quality of life.  Love, on the other hand is like a liquid, filling up holes and crevices, wherever it flows. Love fills anything that is empty. Money cannot buy love. Like respect, it has to be earned. In the end, love is the most coveted of all emotions, because as one knows, money and greed can only buy or even control people, but cannot take over love. So, which is the strongest emotion?