Thou Shall Not Covet

She's the dollars
She's my protection
Yeah she's a promise
In the year of election
--U2

The Tenth Commandment is thou shall not covet. To covet is to want something that someone else has. It is central to evil. Covetousness leads to aggressive actions ranging from theft to welfare state programs (which, of course, can be argued to be one in the same).

While laws can be put in place to punish forceful living off of others, such laws cannot do away with the desire. Tendencies for always wanting more and seeking the most benefit for the least cost, are axiomatic to the human condition.

One way to combat covetousness is to develop an acute awareness of one's blessings. Each of us has been endowed in countless ways. Start with life itself. Life is God's most precious gift. Each day we breathe, we employ a gift that enables us to move forward and, as John Keating proposed, to make our lives extraordinary.

Try not to worry about how many blessings others have. If I appreciate the gifts that I've been given and make the most of them, then it will be difficult for covetousness to restrain me.