Greed
We have all heard about how the wages of sin are death, and that he who is consumed by greed ends up being literally consumed by it? Very biblical, almost worth of the Martyrs’ Memorial Church in Belfast, but an event in Somalia shows just how true these adages are.
Two months’ ago the pirates operating with apparent impunity off the coast of Somalia hit the big time when they captured the Saudi oil tanker Sirius which was estimated to be carrying one quarter of the Saudi kingdom’s daily oil output. Well it seems a ransom was paid – in the region of $3m last week. Certainly a helicopter was seen hovering over the ship and dropping a bag. After this the ship and its crew were released.
Then greed got the better of the pirates. They decided to make a rough division of the spoils, pocketing something like $150.000 each, and jumped into a speed boat with the intention of disappearing with their loot. Sad to say the sea was, as they say in Cornwall, a bit lumpy, and their speed-boat capsized. Some of the pirates managed to swim to shore, but alas their money was gone. One pirate sadly didn’t make it; his body has been washed ashore but with the money in his pockets. Some of it is okay but the rest has to be separated and dried, something his family say could take weeks.
Where did the wave come from? Was it not a reminder that man may count himself materially rich but he is as nought when compared with the forces of nature or, dare I say it, the wrath of the Divine?
There is a lesson here for those greedy bastards who arrogantly claim to govern us and who are at this moment cooking up new schemes to steal the widows’ mites so that they and their relatives can live like princes.
Reminds me of a story that I heard once about a well known soccer manager, bumped his car into the rear of another car that was stopped at traffic lights.
While the driver of the offending car put his head in his hands the other driver came about in a rage, “you ran into the back of my car and smashed the bloody lights”, he exclaimed. “I am sorry” the soccer boss exclaimed “I will pay for it to be fixed, will £100 do it for you”. It was then that the driver realised who it was that bumped into him and there was a bit of a crowd gathering. “Yes, I think so” the driver exclaimed. The soccer boss reached for his wallet and realising that he didn’t have it with him. “Sorry!” said the soccer boss; “I haven’t got any cash on me, will a cheque do?”. “Yes” said the injured party, “I will take it home and frame it”.
The soccer boss smiled on hearing this, realising that the accident had only cost him a few pence, the price of a cheque.
Chris Kirk
February 8, 2009 at 4:54 pm