Principles ignored in chase for money

 MONEY makes the world go round?

I beg to differ. 

When you are hungry, you cannot eat money; when you are cold, you cannot shelter under money or wear money; and you cannot put money into your car to make it run or into your brain to educate you. 

Of course, all these things are bought with money. But to get it, one must work hard as “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). 

It was first intended for man to learn the virtue of hard work through the fruits of labour. 

With the invention of money, mankind has strayed from this fundamental principle, placing all focus on a printed piece of paper that puts a quantitative value on everything.

Many have been misled by this.

Those who have money use it as the basis, if not the very essence of self-worth. 

Others who do not have it look up to those who do, further perpetuating this illusion that one’s worth depends on the amount of money one  has. 

With the introduction of legal tender in our country, many Papua New Guineans have lost sight of the virtue or hard work passed down from our ancestors. 

We now scream out to the Government for handouts. We give and take bribes for a favour or to look the other way. All for that extra buck and all the while, slowly killing the principles of hard work and resourcefulness. 

When we come to a roadblock, a quick K50 passed to a policeman will encourage him ignore the expiration of your safety sticker. 

A quick K100 in the right palm allows a prisoner walk out the front door of a high-security jail or prison. 

Yes, bribery has become so rife at every level that it is seen as ‘the PNG way’. 

This is the very mentality that is pulling our beloved country down. 

A Buddhist quote says, “Poverty with dignity is better than wealth based on shame”. 

We steal and take bribes to build up a reputation and a status as a ‘big man’ in our community. But  to what end? 

Bribery and corruption are not the PNG way. It should never have been and we have only ourselves to blame. 

We have lost sight of all that is truly important in life and place all our hopes, happiness and even our very existence, on the quest to accumulate as much monetary wealth as possible while ignoring the very essence of our existence  –  to earn from the sweat of our brows to become virtuous and self-respecting communities,  villages, provinces and country.

All our woes, our lack of services, our crime and corruption all 

stem from this very root ­­­­- the love for money.

As the Bible says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (Timothy 6:10). 

Spardz Wennar

Port Moresby