Cutthroat Cupidity

A Story by Hannah Stoner

It is very seldom that morality wins when in competition with money.

Why does the human race claim that we cling to such a thing as humanity? In most parts of the world, we kill out of greed, instead of necessity. These acts of cruelty are broadcasted, almost as if the population gets off on them. "Why wouldn't they? Humans are bloodthirsty creatures, it is their instinct to kill, it is only natural that bloodshed would quench these desires." May be along the lines of what a skeptic of these words would say. However, we are no longer in a society were eat or be eaten applies. Yes, the primal instinct to kill may be inside of us, but we have developed intellectually, and are capable of using more then our brute strength to keep us alive. Not only that, we have used our intelligence to determine that the taking of anothers life is indeed wrong. With that said, the mind still begs the question: Why is the murder rate so disgustingly high? The answer to the question is simple; People want more. More what? More of anything that will help them succeed. More attention, more freedom, more money, or simply taking revenge to the next level. Any sane person would rationalize, and realize that the majority of things are far too petty to take a life over, and yet they don't. Why? Because society taught us to be this way. We are given a stigma when we cannot adhere to social norms. You don't fit in? You can't afford a certain kind of clothing? You can go murder that John down the road, and take his wallet. Their are dozens of other situations in which people throw themselves into out of greed, that put them in kill or be killed types of environments. But don't worry, it's for those new clothes, that new car, your new image. Somebody hurt you emotionally? "Get that m**********r back! Don't be a p***y." Nobody questions the morality of these decisions on a platform, because the obsession with fitting in is so prevalent. Not only that, but voices are silent out of the fear of being shunned. The woes of any given individual could drive them to murder, because we are so deeply embedded with the thought that our happiness can come from money, from another person, from anything but inside of ourselves. On the other side of that same token, people believe that sadness and anger comes from external forces, rather than personal conflicitons, driving them to murder those who have done them wrong. The burden of being the best and stigma that comes with not being are what drive the human species to madness and will in the end cause everything to collapse. I would rather survive with the basics and know the ones I love are with me than to be poshly isolated so that I may appease the masses.