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It never ceases to amaze me how emotional we get about property. In the paper today the government is deciding whether to regulate property investment schemes etc. because of Blue Chip and NZinvest are being wrongfully tarred with Blue Chips brush.

Now I’m all for consumer protection but we sometimes pick on property and ignore other more heinous issues.

The Bible talks about 3 kinds of sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, sexual sin and all other sin.
In other words sin is basically sin, we don’t have to grade it, it’s all bad.

So it is with human nature and human beings. Blue Chip is a sad fiasco but is it any worse than an incompetent doctor, an overcharging mechanic or a fraudulent tax return??

No is the answer but because it is property and because the numbers are big, we decide these people must be controlled and regulated against.

The flaw in this is not just the fact that it is unfair compared to other things, but also that it fails to actually solve the root cause, which is sin.

I’m not trying to preach at you here, I’m simply pointing out that Mark Bryers for example is no more evil than anyone else. We all sin, telling a lie to keep the peace, not telling the checkout girl she has given you too much change, saying you like something you hate to impress somebody, these are all just as bad. The difference is they involve less money and don’t appear to hurt others to the same extent.

We need to be wise, we need to do our homework before investing in the same way we need to decide which doctor or mechanic to use. However I believe we also need to be slow to judge and finger point when we don’t know the real story. The media does a fantastic job at being critical, judgemental, biased and dishonest to suit a god story, we don’t have to buy their garbage.

You see as soon as a better story comes along all the bad news property stories will disappear. The media don’t care one jot about people’s plights or the truth, they just want to improve ratings and sell newspapers etc. Don’t get sucked in that all you hear is truth, it is simply media.

Let me tell you a story of 2 men.

The first broke into a house and stole as much as he could. He took it and sold the proceeds and pocketed the money. So far you don’t like this guy do you??

What you don’t know is that he had lost his job and had 7 kids. Social welfare had allowed him to slip through the cracks and he arrived home to his wife gone, a baby screaming with hunger and not one but 2 pregnant daughters, one of which required special expensive medication. That is why he broke into the neighbours. What do you think of him now??

The second man was walking across a bridge on his way to a job interview. He heard a scream and looked down into a secluded park where a woman had been grabbed by a man. It was a 30 second jog to reach the woman but he was worried that if he ran down he would sweat and might smell at the interview. As the attacker drew a knife he imagined his suit getting blood on it and then he couldn’t even attend his interview.

So he did what many of us would do, he decided to do nothing and walk on.

The next day he saw in the Herald that a woman had been murdered in the same park and he realised he had witnessed the beginning of that attack.

What do you think of the second man??

So do I.

His “sin” was to do nothing wasn’t it??
Who was the biggest sinner?? Who would you understand and forgive more easily, the burglar or the person who did nothing??