This is a slightly different post from my regular posts. Different in the sense I will be talking about the real world problems which can be seen with naked eye and brain. Wealth disparity has become so huge during the past century. (Sorry I don't have exact numbers and data to corroborate this statement but just giving a generic statement based on basic general knowledge). What exactly is wealth disparity? It is a situation or condition where few people or few groups or few institutions own majority of the wealth than what is needed whilst most people have somewhat normal wealth that's needed for day-to-day life and some people with absolutely less wealth that what is needed.
So is it a problem to have this huge gap? If yes, why is it a problem (and for who and how)? Answer to both questions is yes. And the reasons are below why it is a problem and for who and how:
Being a human being with extreme materialistic sense, when other humans start to earn more than us, start to buy fancy stuff and start to acquire large social network (majorly because of their assets), it triggers a sense of "urge", sense of competitiveness (in this case I'd say unhealthy competitiveness because of the sole reason we are trying to be competitive only to acquire material benefits. Let's talk about why/if wanting material benefits is wrong a bit later in this same post) and a sense of self worth/self esteem.
These feelings regarding this sense of urge, competitiveness, self worth slowly turn into feelings/senses of losses - loss of self worth primarily.
Once we face the feeling that we aren't worthy anymore or not as worthy as the so-called "so and so" people, negativity starts to accumulate within us.
We all know negativity can do - it is quite capable of breeding more negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, anger, depression, irritability, resentment, frustration, anxiety, the list can go on...subsequently leading to not only increased mental, physical and emotional problems but also increased crime (crime as in not only thefts but also rapes, murders, and many other heinous acts) which is directly or indirectly linked to the mental and emotional health issues.
I'm just not putting all the blame only on the wealth gap for all the above issues I cited. Yes, our brain wirings work based on our past karmas. But the environment also plays a bit of a role in our wiring system. Let's say if a person A's brain wiring is not so healthy as it's supposed to be (from birth), this might prompt him/her to commit weird/heinous acts/crimes but if the environment which he/she has been surrounded by is somewhat positive, while there's no guarantee that s/he won't commit the same acts, there's a slight chance the frequency or intensity might be low or in rare cases, s/he might not even commit those.
And how can a positive, healthy environment be maintained if one is feeling abundant negative feelings from inside?
It's sad to see that the definition of the word "competitiveness" just like many other words has been misused, abused and misunderstood to the core. It's one of the most favorite words of social media, and pretty much all institutions of the world. It's extremely sad to see that it's also one of the main word taught and inculcated in the education system of the entire world.
The rise of corporates not only holds most of the wealth of the world but also increased the sad idea that competitiveness is linked to lot of stocks, lot of base salaries, and lot of bonuses. Human beings just became slaves to that thought! Unfortunately this wealth disparity which had crept in like cancer in the society, in human brains, in real world can't be corrected as is. It can only be corrected when there is a limitation on the amount of revenue a corporate can earn, number of employees it can employ and most importantly, when there are "many" equal competitors in the same domain.
Wealthy disparity can be corrected when monopoly is broken and revenue/earnings are equally distributed between many small businesses within the same domain, and not retained by a few large monopolies (within the same domain).
Coming to why focusing "only" on material growth is wrong, do we live forever? Do our kids live forever? How much money we need to go on to lead a decent life? (Decent life in this sense means eating, sleeping, working comfortably with savings for the next 3-5 years with which we can live comfortably - as in eat well, sleep well and stay well! Throwing huge parties, buying fancy houses, cars etc., won't come under "decent" in this sense). Can we buy everything with money? (I know this is a very beaten statement over the past century or so!)
Please think over and I hope you do! 🙏
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