With
focus of world on change of power in Rome, now seems like an appropriate time to look at some tenets of that ancient faith as developed through centuries.We all break one of 10 commandments occasionally, and feel terribly guilty afterwards. The 7 deadly sins are something else: not only do we too frequently display them, but our culture seems bent on idolizing them!
Consider:
Pride
The arrogance of believing that our way is only way and asserting our certainty about how world should work is exemplified by President Bush and his right-wing minions. The fact that he won re-election confirms that our citizens have no aversion to excessive pride, no matter what their particular religious doctrine prescribes.
Envy
"Keeping up with Joneses" is a cultural pursuit touching all levels - we want what others have, we want it now, and we will build up our personal debt (just like National Debt) to get it. Not only do we crave expensive toys that confer rarefied social status, we rejoice in fall of our competition and take secret delight in firing of a coworker who beat us out of a promotion or fall of a public personality who unfairly seemed to have it all.
Anger
Road rage entered common vernacular when it became a common occurrence. We no longer publicly counsel patience and personal restraint, we laud value of being upfront and aggressive. Business executives strive to be straight shooters and drivers, seeing self-contained, mild workers as passive and non-managerial material. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it any more" is a rallying cry for any cause we promote.
Sloth
While we continue to extol virtues of hard work and personal effort, we quietly buy our lottery tickets, while away our time at alluring casinos now dotting national landscape, and enter every contest where we might get something for nothing. Surf Internet and try to count ubiquitous and seductive ads promising monstrous income levels without work, without effort, without thought, without meaning.
Greed
We are constantly hearing of scams that have left hundreds of people penniless, homeless, or otherwise terribly hurt. Why are so many victimized? Trace swindle to its core and there sits greed - promise of a better investment return, more income, making a small fortune. While most of us are well aware that something that sounds too good to be true probably isn't, we still fall for it if reward sounds good enough. Do you think spammers would keep sending out those emails "I am widow of late Nkrumo Obol who amassed 25 million dollars . . . " if they never received one response?
