Mal Fletcher comments

More than 20 years ago, I was priviledged to visit the island of Sri Lanka. I visited a series of community organisations and churches, to encourage people in the work they were doing and to learn about their culture.

As I was the head of a large Australian youth network at the time, they looked to me for advice on how to build programmes for their young people. But I think I learned a great deal more from them than they did from me.

The biggest lesson was in the power of contentment. They were, at the time, in the middle of one of the worst periods of civil warfare in their history, yet these people were unfailingly generous with what little they possessed.

In my first public speech in Sri Lanka, I made a remark about how much I enjoyed their tea (best in the world, I think), and the saris they wore. I stepped off the stage later to find that some people had gone to the local market and bought me two huge bags of tea and one very colourful sari (which I think had to wear!).

These people, who had nothing to offer money-traders and mortgage-lenders, always seemed to live by the dictum that it's more blessed to give than receive - and they were extraordinarily happy in doing so.

I'm not belittling mortgages, ownership or sound investments of money. Present events simply remind me again that greed isn't a vice simply for the high-powered money men and women; it's something we must all face down at one level or another.

Speaking personally, I would do well to take this opportunity to ask the big question: is the worth of the life I'm leading built on something more solid than my earning power, or the size of my mortgage?