Is it greedy to be ambitious? [Daniel]

Or the opposite can be true, “Is it ambitious to be greedy?” It’s very easily interchangeable, but the two words have different connotations. Ambition, is well the better of the two, it shows you have initiative and you’re looking to move forward, to do, have and be more. Greed, on the other hand, looks to be lethargic and stupid, running into problems here and there due to his (or her) obscene want- it goes to the ridiculous in order to have it’s want, often in a wasteful manner.

So what does this have to do with university, life and perhaps (for the self aware) you? Simple, should you be happy with what is guaranteed or, like a chronic gambler, take the plunge into high risk ventures (read Art’s course). To stay in boring comfort, or to go boldly where no woman (or man) has gone before? My take is that usually taking risks is better than being confined as you generally lose more in not doing, than you ever would in a tried and failed venture…….

And yet the other side of the argument still comes over a radioactive green fence: but don’t you inherently enjoy a banal security? Isn’t it fun to just vegetate and do nothing, to be safe in the knowledge that you’ll never lose anything?

It’s a tempting couch potato siren call, mingled with chips and a tub of lard-that is to say very slippery. It holds merit, I don’t have to do anything and I won’t have to worry about anything, but that’s just based on an opposition to change that no one can change. Sure, you could, I could, hole up in my room, go back to a steady (but boring and dead end) job, do subjects that were inherently easy and didn’t challenge me at all, not worry about writing and just spend my time without any risk of progress…. but that would be ultimately more greedy than any ambition I could ever hustle up.

So it’s not greedy to be ambitious, to cast off the old and to try on the new. So if there’s a chance for something more, take it.

Daniel [Yoddeuss]

Note: I realise applying the same logic to any sort of gambling would probably end in ruin, but as long as the benefits outweigh the costs things should be fine.