Damn this guilt habit!

Damn this guilt habit!

I saw my cousin on the weekend (at a crazy 5th birthday party at Lollipops play land - kids know how to party hard!) He was busy fielding questions from family members about his previous job at the helm of a local branch of an investment bank. We knew that he was an investment banker, but I am sure most of us didn't think more on it other than that his (and his wife's) income had afforded them a magnificent cliff top home, and that he was "semi-retired" at 40 to spend time with his family (the inverted commas allow for the fact he still works more hours than most). But I can imagine he has recently been on the receiving end of some discomforting questions, snippets of which I heard on Saturday night. He is a very nice guy, with an even nicer wife (who seems to embody all the good aspects of US culture - open, warm, inclusive, laid back) and I felt momentarily sorry for him for being scrutinised by his family when he probably just wanted to jump on the bouncy castle with his kids.

That I was related to an investment banker also did not figure into my last post when I pretty much dumped them all in the same basket - acquisitive and self-serving. When I saw my cousin I had to check myself. I don't really think that they are all like that. However, I do think that there are particular industries that more likely to attract greed - and investment banking is one of them. And while I don't believe that a desire to make lots of moolah is dangerous per se, when it is combined with questionable ethics, and has broad impact, it is a problem. A problem that seems intractable.

Right, I am well over writing about things I know little about. Perhaps in my next post I can talk about the Herculean effort I put into cleaning that *@#*$*@ oven of ours on Sunday. I told my husband that it is the last oven I ever clean, and that if we need to clean the oven in whatever rental we move to when we are renovating, he is doing it. Our new oven will not exert these dainty fingers. Bless you De Dietrich, for developing pyrolytic technology.