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"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
 
America was theoretically based on the concept that no one was above the law. Rich or poor, the founders felt everyone deserved equal justice. While this profund idea was initially perceived, generations of adjustment have created two sets of rules...those for the rich and those for the rest of us.
 
Greed examines the American dream in reverse and what happens when one of the rich become just 'someone else,' unimportant and insignificant in a world turned upside down. Read what occurs when someone is betrayed by a member of their own family, all in the name of more, and what transpires when they finally reach bottom, with nowhere to go but up.
 
As the 9th installment in the award-winning Waldwick series, Greed examines life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice, no so imbalanced that without money, it simply can (will) become a nightmare.
 
Author's Notes
 
A few years ago, I was doing a book signing in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, when a middle-aged couple stopped by to chat. From their accent, I could tell they weren’t Americans and inquired as to their country of residence. They informed me they were from Romania and were spending six weeks touring America.
 
I queried what cities they’d visited and they mentioned New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, and finally Chicago. I asked them what they thought of our country and their response became the stimulus for Greed: “We had no idea that America is nothing more than a great big business where all that matters is what you have, measured against what you don’t have, and we wonder if Americans are ever happy with what they’ve got.”
 
The conversation was eye-opening and brought to my mind a conversation I once had long ago with a retired priest who’d lived through the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, and the Cold War. Father Ziggy as friends called him noted that he’d witnessed the threat of Socialism and Communism but neither were as insipient as the ideology he saw America threatened by—and that was Materialism. We buy and buy and buy, thinking it will make us happy until we have too much and too little at the same time, stored here, crammed there, silent reminders of how wants became needs until we are buried in things.
 
In writing Greed, I thought of the Romanian couple and Father Ziggy and then wondered what it would be like to “have it all” and then lose it. I wondered what it would be like to go from the top of the social mountain to the valley of despair and how it would affect a person emotionally, socially, and maritally, and at what point, instance, or event does one finally hit bottom?
 
Concurrent with that premise, I began reading about the fastest growing malady in America. Not cancer! Not heart disease! Not sepsis, which is now number three. In fact, the fastest growing malady in America today is social isolation, particularly among older adults, which has been linked to various health problems including increased risk of mortality.
 
Greed looks at the emotions around failure, the consequences of isolation, and the challenges of life when enough is not enough. It’s not depressing nor pontificating, simply a treatise with the underlying message that joy is only attained when one sincerely feels wanted, needed, and loved.