If greed is so natural to us, then why do we have to be taught it from a young age?

Why do teachers have to tell us not to share our answers to questions for example?

Why do parents bombard their kids with expensive presents and stop them from playing with the wrapping paper?

Why are we sneered at as parents for not buying our child the newest trainers or IPhone?

Our humanity is sick with a disease, the disease of greed, consumerism, and ownership, we're conditioned to ignore the plight of our fellow man, to ignore our natural instincts to help him, because we're told in order to be a good upstanding "successful" member of society that we just need more and more stuff for ourselves, and to become greedier and greedier. We hoard for ourselves, and forget the plight of our brothers and sisters, working crazy hours at jobs we don't like so that we may squirrel away yet more and more, yet for what, when we don't even get to take it with us.

Yes, all of that is true. But what's also true is you can choose not to do that. If you have kids one day, make paper together in the yard. Then learn origami with your homemade velums or whatever. You don't have to do or believe in what everyone else does just because they do. People will always do something stupid and annoying, so let them.

There's a phrase that if you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you're old and not conservative, you have no brain. What happens is you finally get that point that you're not going to change anyone. Go home, sit down, shut up and be an example for the people around you.