Looking at the document provided, greed and exploitation tend to be the biggest attitudes, behaviors, and expectations we have within our society. These behaviors can be seen everywhere and by everyone, even if they do not realize they are displaying these attitudes. We live in a working society where we live to work rather than work to live. There is a constant greed for money since it is the one thing that determines how our lives will play out, so how are we to avoid the greed for money? 

Recently, I have experienced the effect of property over people with the housing market in New York. For the duration of my lease period I have had many struggles with property management and ownership due to their own greed for money. For a few months me and my roommate had a massive hole in our ceiling, we complained the minute we saw it, but nothing was done. We had to go through months of this hole continuing to get bigger, debris and water slipping out and eventually most of the ceiling collapsing. After months of fighting with property management and ownership, we finally decided to withhold rent and call 311 and once management did not receive their check they finally decided to fix the hole because it would end up costing more in city fines rather than fixing it. Our experience throughout this situation helped me come to the conclusion that 9 times out of ten it will always be money and property over people.

Looking at my own personal values, I want for people to be able to mean more than just money and property. Although it feels nice when a new paycheck hits my bank account, it feels even worse when I get taken advantage of for the sake of money. People in power feel it is okay to take advantage of people or put people’s sanity/health at risk for the benefit of good business and more money. No matter if it is pertaining to the workplace or your own home, greed and exploitation is everywhere. In order to fight back, we need to be standing up for ourselves and others around us. If there is somebody who keeps getting pushed down by someone in a position of power for the sake of money, we need to stand up for each other instead of remaining a bystander to these situations.