The God of Greed

The company I manage just survived a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It all started almost three years ago, when one of our trucks accidentally backed into a pedestrian who had no business being where she was in the first place.

Of course, as people seem to do nowadays, she and her family got dollar signs in their eyes and tried to take us for millions. We offered them a pile of money, but to them it wasn't enough-they had an easy retirement for the whole family in mind, and nothing less would do.

Despite being declared fit almost two years ago, the woman came into court wearing a neck brace, supported on each side by two of her daughters as if she were made of fine china. Then they spent the next week wasting a federal court's valuable time, trying to convince a jury that my crews were careless, gun-slinging cowboys who run over innocent folks for fun.

They put our truck's driver, a good guy who does his job with great care and goes home to a fine family each night, on the stand, and tried to paint him as a monster. They made him relive an event that left him so shaken and traumatized, he needed counseling for months after the accident. They hurt him badly. In the name of money.

Their attorney straight-up lied while cross-examining me, knowing that I would not be able to respond to set the record straight. I was outraged.

In the end, the jury saw through their lies and witnessed naked greed. For their efforts, this grasping woman and her family were awarded far less in the verdict than they would have received if they had taken us up on our very reasonable offer. Justice won out.

But I have to ask myself, what if they had won? A viable, job-producing business would have been destroyed. A dozen hard-working employees with families to support would have lost their jobs in the midst of the worst economy in decades, and just before the holidays to boot. But I guess the wreckage strewn by their lies didn't matter, as long as those people got the undeserved payday they lusted after.

How do people live with themselves when they are infected with greed? It must be like falling in a cesspool and not being able to wash clean. It must stink to everyone around them, but they don't even notice their foul stench because they are too busy chasing things that really don't mean a damn anyway.

Personal responsibility. Honor. Character. Doing unto others, as you would want them to do to you. Responding to evil with good. These are the traits of the people I want to know. The others are like hyenas. They make lots of noise, they hunt in thieving packs, they stink, and they're too ugly to withstand the light of day.