Will You Feed The Greed? – Your Weekly Inspirational Quote
I know, I know…BP capped the well and it’s been over a week since any new oil has spilled into the slick waters of the Gulf. But even though the oil has ceased, the flow of unbelievable B.S. from both the government and the oil industry has continued.
Now, reports are coming in that BP has quietly been replacing out-of-work fisherman and other locals in its arsenal of clean-up workers with mostly African-American prison laborers that only cost pennies a day. Why? Not only does each inmate come with a convenient $2,400 tax credit, they are easier to intimidate, less likely to complain about dangerous work conditions, and can be asked to work for up to 12 hours a day.
Greed runs rampant in our society. No matter how you sugar coat it (industriousness, success, capitalism, “just business”) the fact is that we’ve glorified monetary gain to such a degree that even under the public’s watchful eye, the folks making decisions at BP can’t help themselves.
Here are some quotes about green and materialism that might help you to keep the news in perspective this week.
“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” ~D. Elton Trueblood
“Racial injustice, war, urban blight, and environmental rape have a common denominator in our exploitative economic system.” ~Channing E. Phillips speech, Washington, D.C., 22 April 1970
“The most terrible thing about materialism, even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offer a prospect of deliverance.” ~Malcolm Muggeridge
“A grandfather talking to his young grandson tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and hatred. “Which wolf will win, grandfather?” asks the young boy. “Whichever one I feed,” is the reply.” ~Native American Proverb
Image Credit: Flickr – Muffet