Once there were two brothers who lived in a village. The elder brother was very ambitious. He was adamant to change his fortunes. His younger brother also wanted to be rich and famous but was not as determined and focused as the elder one.
The elder brother burrowed money from the bank and opened up a small restaurant in the nearby city. Due to his hard work and determination, his restaurant soon grew famous and in a matter of 2 years he opened up 3 more restaurants in the same city.
Seeing his elder brother successful, the younger brother got jealous of him and thought of ways to become richer quickly without investing any time and going through hardships.
He decided to play lottery and thought to change his fortunes overnight. He won two times and rejoiced on his luck but after that he lost five times consecutively. Due to his addiction and to become rich overnight, he kept on buying lottery tickets and finally lost all his life savings.
Rather than thinking of becoming richer than his elder brother, he did not have enough money to even feed his family.
Seeing no way out, he became a thief and started to loot his neighbours but this did not continue for long and one day he was caught by the police.
The elder brother continued to expand his business and on the other hand the younger brother was imprisoned.
This happened because the elder brother realised that there is no substitute for hard work but the younger brother failed to accept the fact.
Is it possible, though, to be overly ambitious is acquiring wealth? All the great religions and spiritualities of the world warn us against materialism.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every religion warns us of acquiring great wealth but not using it for the greater good. If used to help people, there is nothing better than it. For eg, Bill gates. He has donated about $26 billion to help the people in Africa and around the world to have a sustainable life. Like Mark Zuckerberg donated approx $15 million when Nepal was hit by an earthquake. So in some ways materialism is good. What do you say?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those are good examples, indeed, as they are certainly generous. I believe you are right: There is a difference between materialism and greed on the one hand and charitable wealth on the other. Very good point!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Correction in the 1st line. “Religions do not warn us of acquiring great wealth but warn us of not using them for the greater good.”
LikeLiked by 1 person