The Quest for "More"

"I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back." _Leo Tolstoy

How often is this our situation? We grab what we can for our own self interest and we always feel we "deserve" more and so we take it if ever the choice is before us. We exploit whatever power we have and we continue to push for more power. Then, in the same breath, we express our sympathy for the poor and the powerless. We continue to express our desire to help them without ever inquiring from where all that wealth and power we have been scraping for and exploiting may have come. We never bother to consider the possibility that all of that "more" that we "deserve" is being stripped off of the backs of the very people we believe we desire to help.

Do you, self, see how vain and counter-productive this quest for "more" really is or would be were it truly the poor you wished to help rather than yourself. Get off of their backs and stop scraping for what you deserve, stop helping yourself to the meal set before you which is not meant only for you. Open your eyes to those in the seats beside you waiting for you to please pass the bread.