I was trying to have a relaxing journey home, but then I have this group talking about the referendum next to me. And this clearly non Brit girl is saying she thinks she will vote to Leave. She has no particular reason, and when her friends try and explain the impact on the real estate, pound and economy, the answer is 'well, that is none of my business'. She goes on to say she won't be here for that long so that won't matter anyway. I want to scream - then just don't cast a vote if you don't feel strongly and you won't even feel the impact and you don't even know what it means!'. After the first silence her colleagues continue to talk about impact on jobs - she does not care - look if you work in Paris you can't be fired. I grab my ipad, I know my mind won't let this one go. And she ends with 'look I don't know much about it, but I think philosophically I will vote Leave...'. It takes another station for her collagues to react. 'dude, just vote remain'. In the absence of any more possible justification they go on saying they hope the polls to Leave will make the remain people show up on the day to vote. I a, with them on that one. In fact, i think that everyone should show up, for either side, as long as they have a reason and are conscious of the impacts. Rather than voting Leave because it is cool and I won't be here to pay the price anyway so who cares!
I heard what is likely to become one of my top 3 favourite quotes on a podcast on Friday. "Time is the only real democratic asset. We are all awarded the same time, it is what we do with it that distinguishes us". Now, I recognise that most of us need to work with survive and that is not democratic throughout. But on an equal opportunity basis, this is an interesting way of putting it. For many years I did not understand why MS thought my resume was so interesting. In fact, they chased me during the entire recruitment process, even though I had no idea of moving to London or Finance. I wanted to be a consultant and stay in Lisbon forever. But traditional consultants in Portugal saw nothing in me, and MS did not let me go. When I started screening resumes and hiring people a couple of years later is when I understood why I was different. TIME. I was truly different about what I did with my time. Not necessarily the basics - choice of degree or anything. But really ...
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