"To be part of something
“I hope every day to do something foolish, something creative and
something generous”, Benjamin Graham, economist and professional investor,
1894-1976.
I’ve played professional basketball from my 12th to my
18th birthday. My first coach made me a formal interview before I
joined and asked me to put the following words in order, from the most to the
least important: money, integrity, fame, family, health, school and friends.
Although anyone may argue that based on experience and personality there are
different answers to this question, when we grow older differences become less
apart. With this said, I’ve to confess that I’ve failed miserably back then.
We live in difficult but still interesting and beautiful days. In the
past months – years - we’ve been living and making history as a country (not in
a good way I’m afraid). Troika, deficit, subs, PPP, PPC, Merkel and so many
other beautiful names and acronyms are now part of our day-to-day
vocabulary.
The trillion dollar question is: how can I make the difference if I’m
only one and the “world” seems so complex and corrupt? Where do I start? Do I
have a chance?
That’s exactly the beauty of it: we do.
Socrates once said (the philosopher, don’t be mistaken): “Athenienses, when your
children grow older, punish them if they worry more with wealth and business
then the virtue of being”.
Virtue, honesty, integrity… words we tend to forget. Don’t just read
the words, think deeply about them in all different perspectives, personally and
professionally.
This brief and humble text aims only to capture your attention to
something that I’ve once read and it summarizes all: “Integrity is merely
doing what is right even when no one is watching”.
If we’re honest with ourselves and respect this premise, we will no
doubt start one extremely positive and powerful chain of
events.
With all the above I just hope I was able to share with you my
thoughts about how positive I see the future. We’ve more than 900 (!) years of
history. Portugal exists because one “guy” dreamt about creating a country
against all odds while fighting against his own family and enemies, most times
outnumbered. In my mind we - Portuguese - are capable of anything we want. No
bullshit.
Some of you may be wondering why the hell did I write this text in
English… it doesn’t make (any?) sense. Although it sucks (honestly), I just
wanted to catch your attention and increase the probability that you would read
it to the end… J… hope I succeeded!
Last but not least, I leave you with some quotes that I find profound
and significant.
Be happy and spend all the time you can with your family and friends."
My hubby is a dreamer, I'm more sceptical, but just I love his truthfulness to his principles.
