Family Greed! WARNING: Not a regular happiness post!

Warning:  

Do not read this post if you are looking for a positive, light read....

So when I googled "family greed" to see what came up, surprisingly it was a statement from the Pope.
Yes, the Pope.
Here is what he said:

Commenting on the day’s Gospel, in which a man asks Jesus to intervene to resolve a problem of inheritance with his brother, the Pope spoke about the problem of our relationship with money:
“This is a day-to-day problem. How many families have we seen destroyed by the problem of money? Brother against brother, father against son. This is the first result that this attitude of being attached to money does: it destroys! When a person is attached to money, he destroys himself, he destroys the family. Money destroys! It does, doesn’t it? It binds you. Money serves to bring about many good things, so many works for human development, but when your heart is attached in this way, it destroys you.” 

No family is perfect.  We all have our skeletons.  I like to think that family will look out for each other and stand by in times of trouble.  Some families don't do this.  It might begin as a dysfunctional family but can end up like some animals, eating their young to survive.

Money does this a lot.  I have been hearing about many families that are battling because of inheritances and the lying and backbiting that goes on.  It tears relationships apart.  It sends people over the edge with stress and despair about life. It seems kind of common.

I am a Happiness Teacher and I do not understand family greed.  I have personally been witnessing this lately and I am dumbfounded at the treachery and lying.  Why? How can money make people do these things?

Greed is the selfish desire to have it all.
But how much do we need?
Where do we draw the line?
How can we be a family and have greed?
What goes wrong in the family where greed is the bottom line?

As a family we are supposed to watch out for each other.  We want what is best for the other person.  We protect and keep them safe.  We try to make life easier.

I am not saying money is evil or bad and we should not have it.  I am saying that we cannot let it destroy our families.  Let it go.  Be strong.  Live as if the most important thing is the family.  Because it is the most important thing.  Don't get addicted to the greed of money.

I am not feeling very positive this week about happiness.  I know I will bounce back from this low end of the positivity spectrum and see the light again but I feel as if there is a dark cloud hanging over me, waiting to jump out and make things darker.

I am trying my Happiness Whisperer tricks....exercise, distractions and leaning towards optimism but I am very, very tired of the controversy and the lack of integrity in all parties and how most things can be justified.  I wish it were different but it is reality.

I guess my message this week is that sometimes life sucks and we deal with it.  

Looking forward to a brighter week, next week.  

I am going to write three good things that happened today and go to bed early.