Greed

I recently heard some troubling news about a guy I used to spend a lot of time with. I wouldn't necessarily call him a friend, because our relationship was more business centered.

About 2 years back I was looking into making a major career change. Rather than quit my job outright, I decided to try out some other jobs first before I jumped into something that may not have been the best fit. So I was working at my day job in the day and spending the evenings with another company learning the ropes. That's where I met Thomas (name changed). Thomas was the manager I was working under while at this other company. He was very knowledgeable and was working a ton of hours. Thomas was also a young guy. At 23 he became the manager of this group and was doing quite well for himself. He had a lot of drive which I really respected.

Since Thomas was there so much, I was able to spend a lot of time with him. He was teaching me the ins and outs of the job which I really appreciated. Although I was learning a lot under Thomas I couldn't help but get a little frustrated towards him. Multiple times I would see Thomas say he would do one thing and then actually do another. Some of these commitments were very small . . . like not showing up on time. Others were very big, where they dealt with a couple thousand dollars in business deals.

These integrity issues were the main reason that I decided against a career change, which caused me to slowly lose touch with Thomas. Despite these issues, I still really liked and cared for the guy.

Last week I found out that Thomas got himself into a lot of trouble. Apparently he was out of the office for 2 weeks without anyone really knowing where he went to. When he came back, looking thin and tired, he told people he was gone on a fishing trip. Turns out that wasn't entirely true. He was actually spending some time with the FBI because he and some other business associates were engaging in illegal business deals. These deals involved nearly 2 million dollars.

Googling Thomas pops up many newspaper articles and government documents that detail exactly what was going down. With me knowing a little bit about the industry Thomas was in, I can see how it is a classic case of "one thing led to another". And now Thomas' decisions are leading to probable jail time and a permanent record. And not the kind of permanent record they tell you about in grade school!

Reflecting on what I now know about Thomas' situation, I can't but think that greed was at the center of his troubles. Proverbs 15:27 says, "A greedy man brings trouble to his family". Thomas has been married about a year now and I'm sure his wife would agree with that verse. Although Thomas has made a ton of money the last couple years, it is all being unraveled by some extremely poor decisions.

In the book, "As a Man Thinketh", it says - "Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance." I had seen Thomas' habits of not keeping his word on small business deals. Those deals turned into bigger deals, and those into even bigger deals. Thomas' bigger deals completed with low integrity turned into indictments by the FBI . . . . his very own solidified circumstance.

Knowing of someone else's troubles in one thing. Learning from them is where the gold is. We can't have thoughts and think they won't affect our actions. And we can't have actions and think they won't have consequences. The challenge for everyone is to focus on our thoughts and make sure we understand that what we think about is what we will eventually, through our actions, achieve.