Interesting, isn’t it, how all that seems to be good about the holiday season recently incepted also seems to be accompanied by something… less than good? Along with the bountiful feast on Thanksgiving comes the gluttony of eating like animals preparing for hibernation. Along with the tradition of competitive college and professional football comes the sloth of watching three games… back-to-back… in the same spot… on the same couch. And along with the season of giving comes the season of frenzied consumption, driven by marketing that at times seems downright manipulative.
Please don’t perceive my tone as judgmental; I only used the examples mentioned because they are those temptations to which I am most susceptible. I am not a member of the naturally frugal minority condemning the profligate materialistic majority. It is, after all, my tendency to prefer more over less, better over worse, cool over dorky and hip over unfashionable.
So it is with humility, then, that I posit this “Cure for Greed,” learned quite unintentionally through an experience many years ago that helps me avoid succumbing to the tug of materialism, an enticement we all face daily:
Welcome! 
Hi, Tim!
Your ‘Cure for Greed’ is spot on. My own ‘cure’ was a month in the Dominican Republic in areas that tourists never see. Rice and beans daily…one scrawny roasting chicken during the month shared among 6 of us…the local ‘mafia’ controlling the electricity with a few hours daily. Ironically, I gained more sense of ‘community’ and spirit of ‘come…share what we have’ there than I have probably ever experience ‘here’ in our super-affluent reality we call ‘here.’ It’s a daily struggle for me as well but that experience forever changed my ‘needs versus wants’ filter. Having a choice in that is a tremendous blessing, in and of itself! Thank you for this ‘reason for the season’ post.
First come! Write well and happy New Year.