When is enough enough?

Early in the summer, I happily spent an afternoon at a friend’s house enjoying his hospitality and all of the lovely amenities his home offers – a peaceful setting with both a pool and a hot tub. As we relaxed in the bubbling hot tub, we talked about the simple satisfaction that comes from hanging out with a friend and indulging in a dip or a soak on a sunny June day. What more can a person want or need?

I asked him if he thought that obscenely wealthy people enjoyed their lives more than we were at that very moment. Did tremendous wealth add pleasure proportionate to zeros in a bank account? We shook our heads. No, we agreed, the humble pleasure of sunshine, friendship and temperate waters would fail to be improved by any excess of income.

What is it that makes some people feel the need to accumulate vast sums of money, often at the expense of integrity? Is there an internal void that they think can be filled with dollars? What are these people trying to compensate themselves for and why do they seem to feel it’s acceptable to do so at the expense of the public? And, lastly, does their arrogance blind them to the fact that we don’t just notice their flashy cars, expensive suits and fake tans, but we also see the ugliness of their greed?

While these men may think that all their riches will never be enough, I assure you, most of us don’t feel the same way. Enough.