A characteristic that has been prevalent throughout human history is human beings grasping after control. We amass money because of its security, we chase after people’s positive opinions to not be scapegoated, and we fill our free time with things that entertain us so as to not ‘waste our time.’ In every facet of our lives, we often find ourselves trying to control the circumstances around the things we really want, whether that is power, wealth, or pleasure.
It makes sense that this is what we do because this is what western culture, and more specifically, American culture is built on. The idea is that in this land, we can control our environment to create the life that we want. Generally, this has been dubbed the ‘American Dream,’ and there are many who have chased after it since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet, we see that many flaws have crept into our society not just back then, but even to this day. Why? Because people try not only to control their pursuit of power, wealth, or pleasure, but increase it by any means necessary. Thus, the disrespect of the dignity of human life has riddled American history.
Grasping after wealth resulted in the use of slaves. Men used other men as a mere means to the end of producing economic goods. Thus, in the pursuit of amassing capital, much of the American economy was built on the degradation of millions of human beings. Even after slavery ceased, the industrial revolution (again aimed at amassing money) gave rise to new problems of insufficient wages which resulted in labor unions forming to stand up for the rights of workers. Even today, corporations are continuously chasing higher ‘margins’ for the sake of squeezing every last penny of profit out of their customers. The grasping after wealth has continuously created inequality throughout the evolution of the ‘American Dream.’
America was also founded on a political system that was to eliminate too much power being held by one person (the whole point of the Revolutionary War). Yet, in the evolution of the country’s political system, we have found ourselves consistently in a situation where political power belongs to the few rather than the many. This has occurred through corruption (which will most likely always be present in some way in politics), or most currently through the imbalance of lobbying power in a two party system which alienates the opinions of most voters. When politicians and their supporters grasp after power, yet again human dignity is degraded because many are lied to or used to get votes, or they have no way to have themselves be represented.
Finally, pleasure has been grasped at for centuries in America, but only recently has it become a true issue in American society. In the early stages of American history, the American Dream was founded on the idea that hard work pays off (which it does). Thus, generally speaking, chasing after pleasure is not going to be an issue in a hard working culture because pleasure has been prioritized correctly. However, as one of the richest countries in the world, and as the internet has revolutionized how we relate to the world and each other, priorities have been mixed up for many as it is so easy to grasp after the overload of entertainment options at our disposal. Thus, the grasping at pleasure has caused us to not only use others for our pleasure, but has also allowed many to become poorly formed human beings, which also results in a lessening of human dignity. This trend only increases as more technology has evolved without any real limitations.
Reading this article, it can seem that I am against power, money, and pleasure. I am not. These are all things that can be used for good. However, I am against grasping after those things. Philippians tells us that Jesus, though He was God, did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. In Psalm 131, David tells God that he has not grasped after things beyond him. Rather, he thanks God for the peace he has found resting humbly in His presence. The way of the Lord is humility. It is gift of self, not taking for oneself. If we want to have a healthy society in America, we have to stop grasping and start giving because we were made in God’s image and likeness, and He is not a grasper but a Giver. If we are to truly be who we were called to be, we will stop our infatuation with control and take up our cross daily and follow Him. This starts not just with those who have insane amounts of power, wealth, and pleasure, but even those who have very little of these things. Once we all learn to approach the Lord with empty hands and a clean heart, then we will be filled with goodness that we cannot even begin to imagine for God provides for His children in abundance.
