2007 08 Greed Haiku

Several Haiku
Mostly on greed and owning
But other things too


Five, seven and five,
Those are the pertinent rules,
Keep Haiku alive.


Greed rules people’s lives,
Why so much focus on stuff?
Flowers are pretty.


It’s mine she exclaimed!
How can you claim that is true?
Go take a long hike.


What you have is mine!
Things corrupt your good psyche,
Jump in a cold lake.


Is that what you want?
It was my grandmother’s piece!
Enjoy it with love.


Here’s a new subject
Hoarding the same thought bores
Why not try new things?


Playing violin
Hard work but satisfying
Please do it some more.


This is my first attempt at Haiku. If you know rules which I haven’t followed, please let me know.
When our children were young, we had the chance to observe how they carved out turf by controlling stuff. One child would have a particular toy and that was “MINE”. As they grew they learned that it is more peaceful if they give up ownership to some extent. That applies to ideas, land, copyrighted ideas and other personal property. But to give up ownership is very, very hard. Just look at Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Remember Napolean, Hitler, Hussein.

So where is the balance between ownership and peace. If we start to hoard, envy and misunderstandings can occur. Shouldn’t you be able to benefit from personal effort? But how much is enough. I have customers who have multiple homes owned with no mortgage. After all, our society rewards entrepreneurs. It also rewards class action attorneys who prevail in big cases. They take the risk of research and the unknown outcome of their effort. They target big companies with great wealth to hold them to high standards. But the wealth of those big companies came because people trusted their products and came back for more at whatever price they charged. And wealth is created from ideas implemented well. Shouldn’t a person benefit from providing what people want and need?

So when do you fight to maintain control and when do you give up?

I like possessions
Don’t take them away from me
Go your way in peace.

You have stuff I’ve not
It’s nice that you enjoy it
Look, the tree blossoms.

©Frank Bliss 2007 All rights reserved
August, 2007