Thrift, greed and stinginess

I watched a documentary on the History Channel a couple of nights ago about the seven deadly sins. From sloth to lust, the documentary delved into each sin episodically.

When it came to greed, I paid particular attention, because the documentary made several biblical references on this vice, since greed and excess were the things Jesus campaigned most heavily against. However, it was not the biblical anecdotes that left an imprint on me but a fable about a scavenging old woman who symbolized greed.

In the fable, vice and virtue were personified as warriors in a battlefield. As the battle yielded slain corpses that lay mangled from defeat, out comes an old woman reaping the spoils of war, stealing from the dead.

When this old woman’s transgression is exposed, she then morphs into a beautiful young woman – thrift – to escape admonition. Thrift, seen usually as a virtue, is nevertheless depicted as a mere surrogate of greed.

Now, I have never thought of thrift this way; thrift, to me, was the antithesis of greed. It was a good thing. My parents imparted the value of thrift to me; my dad, especially, made me understand it to be a healthy way of life.

So when I considered the analogy from the documentary, it seemed out of whack. However, it made me reconcile and evaluate some of my experiences in life.
There were many times when I shunned spending more than necessary for the sake of “saving,” and was met with a backlash. Like the times in the army when I chose to be frugal when buying food for my military field trips. I always bought what I needed and never contributed to the shared pool with my peers.

The leaders in my platoon section criticized me for being selfish, but I always debated them to defend my frugality. I felt I was standing up for my principles, but in retrospect, I had strained relationships for the sake of money.

During a trip to Las Vegas this break, my girlfriend and I were careful not to break our budget. Nevertheless, on the last day of our trip, we had overspent. When the time came to retrieve our luggage from the bell services and leave for the airport, my girlfriend told me to tip by the number of bags the bell boy carried – two bucks for two bags. I slipped the guy just a dollar.

After the bell boy thanked me and I turned to leave, he muttered something about “breaking his back to get only a dollar.” I felt embarrassed and knew then that I had been selfish.

Although my dad’s motto was to live within one’s means, he still was a generous giver when it came to church. He gave his share each month. He gave his time to fellowship.

I realized then that thriftiness and generosity were arbitrary. Spending habits differ from person to person. Although I still consider thrift a virtue, the problem is that thrift easily leads to stinginess, which is essentially greed.