Greedy Play

The preschool that my sons attended succeeded, I think, because teachers there kept their message simple. The children could pretty much do what they wanted as long as they were safe, kind and clean.

Those three words became an easy way to explain, without lecturing, when a child’s behavior had become unacceptable – either it was dangerous, messy or hurtful. My sons are older now, one in grade school, the other in high school, but I still need simple words to explain a lot of what they face in the world. The current economic crisis, for example, that fuels doom-and-gloom speculation by talking heads on TV and screaming headlines in the newspaper has not escaped their notice.

When they ask me what is happening, I hear the fear in their voices. I’m afraid, too. But how to explain the complicated, convoluted series of events that has brought our country perilously close to collapse when so many adults themselves don’t understand?

I think back to the preschool and consider simple phrases that explain how we got here and finally settle on one word: greed.

Greed seems to be at the heart of every level of the debacle that has brought us to this point.

Greed pushed housing prices to record levels forcing families to pay too large a percentage of their income for a slice of the American dream.

Greed blinded buyers who purchased homes larger and more expensive than they could afford.

Greed motivated mortgage brokers and banks to make – encourage even — so many risky loans.

Greed fueled a market system that allowed the sale of assets backed by mortgages inflated beyond the declining value of those homes.

Greed even seems to explain the posturing going on right now in Washington, D.C. where two presidential candidates – neither elected yet – have allowed their campaigns to further complicate efforts to resolve the crisis.

Greed is a word my sons understand.

They’ve been guilty of a little greed in their short lives and so have I. So when we criticize the system, I tell them, we have to accept some of that criticism ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes, though, just like the kids did at the preschool years ago. Maybe next time we’ll chose to play in a way that is safe, kind and clean. 

By Laura-Lynne Powell