Extravagance As Vice

Introduction

From Aristotle’s view that virtue lies in the middle, we can infer that to every virtue there are two corresponding vices. So, taking the virtue of charity for an instance, we can infer two corresponding vices of stinginess and extravagance.  The vice of stinginess is easily recognizable by many persons. However, in this contemporary world bedeviled by materialism, it is difficult for many persons to recognize the vice of extravagance.

Synonyms of extravagance that can help us understand the concept better are treat (“I want to take myself out for a treat!”), overindulgence (“I can’t kill myself. . . Let me enjoy my life!”), luxury (“I can afford it even though something lesser can serve the same purpose adequately.”), and extra (“I must not let this opportunity pass me by. I need to take more than I am entitled to so as to secure my future, even if I have to impoverish others by doing so”). One common idea that runs through these synonyms is the possession of wealth or plenty of money. Thus it seems only rich persons can be guilty of this vice. Nevertheless, that is not to say that only rich persons possess this vice. There are a lot of poor persons whose minds are enshrined in the vice of extravagance waiting like a time bomb for the opportunity to acquire wealth or plenty of money to explode in extravagance.

Let us quickly look at three persons in the Gospels that exhibited this vice of extravagance: (a) The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19 – 31), (b) The Rich Fool (Luke 12: 16 – 21), and (c) The Rich Young Man/Ruler (Luke 18: 18 – 30; Matthew 19: 16 – 30; Mark 10: 17 – 31).  

• The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19 – 31): The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a pathetic one. We were not told how the Rich Man got his wealth. He may have earned it through hard work and diligence. We were also not told that he was responsible for Lazarus’s woes or poverty. We were told that he lived an extravagant life and ignored Lazarus. His lack of concern to the plight of Lazarus, and his failure to help poor Lazarus in his pains and woes was a principle he set out in nature that affected his spiritual life, and that caught up with him when he became a disembodied person in hades. And what is the principle: I don’t care about the plight of the poor and needy, especially when I am not responsible for their poverty. This principle of the Rich Man was also applied to him when he was in hades. He requested that Lazarus should come to assist him with a drop of water. Abraham refused to grant his request because of the principle he has set in motion. He refused to assist Lazarus while he was a human person (body and soul). He cannot now get any assistance from anyone even in hades. If he had practiced the virtue of charity towards Lazarus, perhaps he will not be in hades, or he may have gotten assistance from Lazarus.
• The Rich Fool (Luke 12: 16 – 21): This parable of the Rich Fool tells us the source of the wealth of the Rich Fool. He was a very successful farmer. He must have been a skillful, diligent and hardworking farmer. But he was storing up food for many years to come, and he was not thinking of the poor, the needy and the hungry of the present. Once again, it is clear that he is not responsible for the poverty of persons around him. His foolishness lies in the fact that he did not adequately prepare for the disembodied life where material things are of no value. What is of value in the world of the soul are virtues practiced when one was a person (a composite of body and soul). Unfortunately, he lacked the virtue of charity which is voluntary giving to the poor and needy out of one’s resources.
• The Rich Young Man/Ruler (Luke 18: 18 – 30; Matthew 19: 16 – 30; Mark 10: 17 – 31). The story of the Rich Young Man/Ruler is not only of a person with so much wealth; it is also of a person who is morally sound and righteous according to the Law. Also, he was not responsible for the poverty of anyone. But he too has a problem. He does not care for the poor and the needy. If he eventually dies without assisting the poor and the needy, he will miss eternal life despite his keeping to the Law religiously.

Now, the three persons we have looked at from the Gospels have wealth in common, were good people who genuinely worked hard to earn their wealth legitimately, and they were not responsible for the plight of the poor and the needy in their society. But they also have a vice in common, and that is extravagance. They were hoarding what belonged to the poor.

On practical terms, one way to know if you are living an extravagant life is to critically examine your life style with the following questions: (a) are you living in a mansion when you can as well live in a modest house and build a house for or give to the homeless? (b) Are you driving a car worth 20 million and above when you can buy a car for less than 20 million with the same purpose, and use the rest money to educate and train many persons? (c) Do you waste food, water and clothes? (d) Do you pay your workers less so that you can live an extravagant life? (e) As a worker in the private sector or the civil service is your life style commensurate to your salary and allowances? As a politician in government, are you contented with your salary and allowances, or do you use your office to amass ill-gotten wealth that impoverishes the people?

Finally, the vice of extravagance is a very difficult vice to detect. For those who are interested in meliorating or eliminating the vice of extravagance, I recommend that you develop a wealth quotient within which you moderate your life style and spending, and beyond which you voluntarily give to the poor (charity). For now, learn to give out a percentage of your income, time and resources to the poor and needy even though you have some basic needs you are yet to meet. By so doing, you will not be caught up in the dehumanizing and enslaving craving for wealth among some rich people in our world today.

(Sylvester Idemudia Odia, Ph.D., VERITAS: The official newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, Vol. 15, No. 145, October 2024, p. 39)