Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a group of people who took stock of all that the earth possessed. They said to one another, “We're going to need some of all of this stuff, right? But there are other people on this planet who also want what we want. If we're going to ensure that we always have enough, we need to see to it that we have more than enough.”

So, even though they didn't actually need all the materials and minerals and information that they already had, they began to store 10, 50, a 100 times more of everything than they needed. And they used it. They used a lot of it. In fact much of what they used was simply squandered and wasted.

But there were those other people in the world who didn't have enough of what they needed. “Won't you share your knowledge of how to use these resources so that we too can have enough?” they asked the hoarders.

This scared the hoarders very much. 'What if our situation becomes like those who don't have enough?' they thought to themselves. 'We need to grab and keep even more of the world's resources for ourselves.”

“But we're dying!” pleaded the rest of the world. “Our children need what you have. Please don't abandon us!”

“We're not abandoning you,” shouted the hoarders. “We're taking care of our own. God helps those who help themselves to whatever they see.”

This made the dying very angry, both at the hoarders and at the religion the hoarders tried to teach those who were dying. So, in fear that those who were dying would demand that the hoarders share their wealth, the grossly wealthy began to build walls to keep out the needy, and they bought guns and more guns. And then they built missiles and warships to ensure the safety of their wealth.

Just as Jesus had warned, all this wealth and all these guns did nothing to provide for a feeling of safety and security. In fact, the hoarders grew depressed and anxious. They became fearful not just of the needy “over there.” They became fearful of their neighbours. Instead of enjoying comfort and contentment, their moods fluctuated wildly between grandiose thinking driven by a level of energy that seemed like madness, to depths of depression and hopelessness. They looked for people to blame and found no shortage of suspects; from those of a different skin colour, to those who spoke a different language, to those who voted differently and even to those who had sex in a different manner or who worshipped differently - and in the case of atheists, they grew fearful of those who worshipped at all. 

The hoarders tried everything they could think of to distract themselves from the mess they'd created. There arose such a demand for mood altering drugs that the laws were changed to legalize them. So too with every form of sexual distraction that could be imagined. Family breakdown was celebrated as something good, as were beauty and fame and violence. In fact, as entertainment the people watched lot's and lot's of violence and it made them feel powerful and aggressive - which was seen as a good thing.

Sadly the hoarders rejected the one source of advice that commanded them to share what they had. They tried everything but loving their neighbours.