I feel a great discomfort in being told that greed is good. It is not just from my upbringing, but as I understand it, greed drives unethical, immoral and dishonorable human behavior. The word should not be mixed with survival, or disguised as a euphemism for survival. Without a doubt, greed is an evil.

So is selfishness the “basis of all human labor and effort” then? Do we respect the captain of the sunken liner, Costa Concordia, for greedily seeking his own survival? No. We call him a coward for saving himself and abandoning ship with passengers still aboard.

Where do you find brave men unafraid to die for their country, if everyone simply wished to save their own lives? Where do you find parents to raise infants, if greed dictates them to save their own resources? Where would you find love, if greed blinds you to anyone’s needs but your own?

Arguably, one can say that new phones and new iPods are produced out of greed. However, one cannot say that the scientists, engineers, mathematicians and developers who toiled in their efforts to make such technology possible — those who receive little to no credit for their work and accumulate trivial wealth — persevered because greed drove them on.

In my thoughts, the evil of greed drives the ending of the world, society and all sensible order when the individual would willingly sacrifice others to save himself in the misguided belief that he will “survive.” If you exist today to read this, it is because someone in the past pushed greed aside and had you in mind.