“The Rich Man’s Burden”

The September 2, 2008 edition of The New York Times carried an op-ed piece by Dalton Conley, chairman of New York University’s sociology department, entitled, “The Rich Man’s Burden.” Intrigued by the title, I clicked to read it.

In discussing our nation’s “income inequality” (between rich and not-so-rich) the author states that the real disparity lies between the middle and the top, not between the poor and rich. The line that left me rolling in the aisle was “ . . . a poll of New Yorkers found that those who earned more than $200,000 a year were the most likely of any income group to agree that ‘seeing other people with money’ makes them feel poor.”

We define comparison as “the act of comparing, likening, or representing as similar, comparable condition or character, always with the negative expressed or implied.”

Edna Lister said: “Comparison is dangerous, for it produces negativity, undervaluing of your talents or abilities, loss of confidence, and can lead to subconscious jealousy, and ultimately to self-pity. You invest your life substance when you compare.”

As we live and grow in experience, we each develop a long list of “what not to do.” Maturity arrives when we recall that we have created this list, then review it regularly to assure that we do not fall into any old trap. Comparison is a mental/emotional trap, like a cruel leg-hold trap for an animal.

No generation has worshiped the golden calf like the present global business world. The love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself.

If we’re loving money, we’re not loving God, but worshiping the golden calf, practicing a mechanistic evil. Spiritual leprosy is believing the accouterments of success are the deity.

Linda Mihalic – Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved