The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-03-16
Human Hogs
Lesson for March IS, 1862

"Covet' is a word that does
MT sound sinful. It is often used
in perfectly respectable connec-
tons, as when the King James
translation of I Cor. 1921 has
Paul saying "Covet earnestly
the best gifts Coveting in the
Tenth Commandment, however,
does not mean simply to desire.
1t is not itself a sin to desire to
have something. All human eff
fort. indeed human life itself,
would grind to a stop if nobody
ever wanted anything. It is not
a sin to want what someone else
has, if he is willing to let you
own it and if you pay him a
fair price.
What Is Greed?
Nevertheless greed is a sin,
and greed is simple one-sylla-
BILE word that means covetous-
ness but sounds ugly too like
what it stands for. If you have
ever fed pigs you must have
noticed how they act at the
trough. All the hog needs is just
get his mouth into it but that's
not enough. for him. He wants
to put both feet and most of
his face into it. He doesn't care
what the other hogs do he's
strictly out for his own appetite
1t may be unfair to hogs tfor
this writer has seen cats which
were just as greedy as any hog
but the words hog and hoggish-
ness are used of human beings
sometimes but never as a COM
pliment!
Now, what is to be greedy?
AS was said Just now, merely
wanting something is not neces-
sarily greedy. Greed is wanting
more than my share, more than
/ need. Getting more than one S
share, more than one needs, is
not greed. The greed comes
first; it is wanting gone wild, it
is wanting without a particle OF
love.
And l l intend To Squeeze It.
A distinguished critic, being
asked some years ago to give
his philosophy of life, respond.
ed, The world is my orange
and l intend to squeeze it," The
man has been converted since
then. it is said. but as he was
then. he was making as frank
profession of greed as a man
could make. He revealed in that
one sentence two facts: 1. The
greedy man thinks he has a
claim to everything in sight, and
if he sets his sights high enough
he can even think the whole
world is his orange. 2. The
greedy man lets nothing stand
in his way. Police departments
all over the world know the con.
nection between greed and muir.
der. More people are killed
from motives Of greed than
from hatred. Greed unchecked
runs up like a poison-plant into
every kind of crime.
Two Kinds Of Human Hog
The human hog comes in two
main varieties. One is the plain
or backlot variety. What he
wants are things, and he can GO
on piling up things to the day
Of his death, like the farmer in
Jesus story without giving
proper thought to what he can
do with what he has, in short
with no real reason except to
make the pile bigger. Men who
get out their money boxes every
night and count the coins used
to be called miSerS. It would be
hard to find men like that to
day; but the miSer is still with
us. Every time there is an cleo.
ton to raise taxes for schools
there are people who will vote
NO simply because they have
no children and don't want to be
taxed 10 help other peoples chill
dren. Some people collect
money. some collect trash; bu,
If you've no plan to spend the
money wisely and generously
YOU might as well collect junk
Hogs Of all Sorts
The other main variety of this
kind of man is the kind thai
hogs something besides money
Some people hog the limelight
they want to be the center Of
very secene and they don't rel
ish "scenerstealers:" some hog
notice in the newspapers, anc
will die in bed holding an album
Of press notices. Some arc glut
tons for power; James and Johr
were men Of this sort before as
ISOLATION with Jesus finalls
changed them. They wanted K
share the authority OF Christ,
they have their counterpart il
every church. men and some
times women who must run
the church or they are not salts