Gordon Gekko is Wrong, Greed is not good but it may be Necessary

For those of you who may not know and ask the question who is Gordon Gekko?  Gordon Gekko was a character made famous by Michael Douglas in an Oliver Stone film called “Wall Street” in 1987 but what made Gordon Gekko more famous was his saying which many have embraced and swear by today.  The character said that greed was good and since then many have been trying to prove this statement.  Most dictionaries define greed as “an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth” and in that regards many say this is what makes it bad and not a good thing.  They say greed makes one selfish and insensitive to the needs of others because they are so consumed with their needs only.  They say that greed leads many to risk their very soul to obtain that high again and again never getting enough of living by a means envied by others.  I must say I agree with many of these takes and know deep within my heart of hearts that greed is and never will be good, but by the same token, I also know that greed is and always will be necessary.

For those who now ask why such a harmful idea is so necessary, I answer by asking this.  What do you think this economy and all wealthy nation’s economy in this entire universe is based off of?  Greed is not only an excessive desire but an emotion, a drive and a seemingly uncontrollable urge to live not within our own means or within our own beings but extends far beyond us and is centrally located within the desires and beings of others.  We see others with a new car and that drives us to want and desire a new one as well.  This demand to live as others do drives businesses to supply more new cars, fancier cars and fancier equipment, we feel will bring us a greater satisfaction than what we may now possess.  We have got to have the newest concepts and be on the cutting edge in order to feel like we are moving forward instead of being stuck in the past.  Manufacturing is boosted by this desire and new concepts, ideas and products are produced with the single intent of making us feel like we must have it in order to survive.  Without this desire to own or possess the best and the brightest, nothing new would ever be created and our natural instinct of creativity would be lost.  So what’s the point then is the next question.

The answer here is also simple.  Anything we encounter while living in the human form is good and since there are so many things which exists in this world from needs to wants and from ideas to feelings, we should never be afraid to embrace any of them.  What makes them bad is not the need or want, the idea or feeling.  What makes them bad is simply the excess in which we chase one or the other.  Life is a balance, a simple balance of good and evil things, neither more needed nor necessary than the other and to be plainer both are required to live a full and enjoyable life.  What makes good things bad and bad things good is the excessiveness we add to the mix.  We have the choice to control our desires or allow our desires to control us.  When we fail to control our desires, we cross over into the bad greed area from which many of us never return but if we can control those desires, we are able to not only enjoy the good aspects of greed but caste away those bad aspects of it.  Having only two feet but requiring a closet full of shoes is good for the economy and the businesses who make shoes but it does little for the ones who desire to possess ever style and make of them.  This is the lesson that we should learn from any emotion, idea, feeling or desire and it is a lesson that few of us will ever admit an issue with if it is ever discovered that we possess a problem with knowing just how far to take those emotions, ideas, feelings and desires.