Z-generation

I suppose all readers know well what the term used in the title stands for. In case somebody needs to catch up, I divert to a dedicated wikipedia page.

Over the recent time young adults (nearly a decade younger than me, or even younger) have become nefarious for their distinctive approach towards work and towards life. Some hailed them "a snowflake generation", referring to their fragility and shortage of resistance to hardships of adult life.

Although the introductory paragraph might suggest I am critical towards Z-gen, I appreciate many foundations of their mindset. They fight for a work-life balance, in practice reaching out beyond the older generations' hollow declarations. They want to break out of chasing after money and material goods. Instead, they yearn for experiencing and spending time with nearest and dearest. They realise the treadmill of older generations gets them nowhere.

The above at first glance holds true, yet there is an inconsistency in how they want to achieve their goals. If I were to come up with only one critical remark towards Z-gen, I would say they do not understand causations. The pleasures they want to draw from life cost money, but unlike my peers, they refuse to toil away to earn it.

I have recently read a series of excellent articles (by enlightened conservatives from Klub Jagielloński) in which one of the authors posits generation Z is the natural effect of generations X and Y. A younger generation naturally contests the values of an older one. Generation Z however, wishes to freeride on the fruits of the previous generations' hard work.

I generally blame parents of Z-gen for how their offspring interact with the world. Also confining to one child only by many couples has done its bit. Parents of two or more children need to share their attention between them, while siblings need to mind and take care of one another. In a 2+1 family the focus is on the only child, who often is treated like the hub of the universe (and as an adult holds out for such treatment).

I also hold it against Z-gen's ancestors that current youngsters are not taught how to deal with criticism and lack a sense of responsibility. Children should learn from their own mistakes and from early years realise, to a moderate extent, there are prices to be paid for misdeeds. A dose of humility, when confronted with someone else's wisdom and subsequent ability to admit one's mistakes would definitely come in useful too.

In the era of affluence parents tend to give children too much, often to make up for too little time or attention dedicated to their offspring. Such upbringing does not teach youngsters they need to work hard to deserve something.

Besides, far too much protection from the cruelty of the nasty world is given. Suffering is an indispensable part of life and children should be slowly tamed with it, to help them accept life is not a bed of roses. The sooner they realise it with wise aid of their parents, the less painful the clash with tribulations of the adult life will be.

I wonder what happens once the Z-gen take over as major part of the labour force and once they begin to take up managerial position. The economic growth might slow down, however with the benefit to the planet, so such prospect is not entirely gloomy.

Ogarnij się!

For starters, to prompt comments from my (sparse) readers – what is the best English equivalent of the Polish verb ogarniać się, in its recently most popular meaning, i.e. to do something do bring stuff under control? To spruce up / to smarted up which pop up when an on-line dictionary is asked, are palpable misnomers and actually render another, more traditional meaning of ogarniać się. Get a grip on oneself, get one’s act together, get hold of oneself appear to fit better, yet by no means they are perfect equivalents. Dear native speakers – any hints?

And the ogarnięcie się is a common denominator to a Polityka weekly’s ranking of twenty two changes in a life one should make before turning 30. The article has taken my fancy right away, yet after the second or third read, I have found the list weird. Nevertheless, out of curiosity I have put myself to the adulthood test… Here we go…

1. Aiming at give-and-take, since digging one’s hills in to prove one is right, gets people nowhere.

Me: Had such period, some five to three years ago when I wanted to demonstrate everyone my supremacy. With time, and having been told off by a few folks wiser than me, I have come to my senses.

2. Cutting down on alcohol. Health no longer permits, too little time to overcome hangover, not to mention dire aftermaths drinking too much.

Me: This might come to a big surprise, yet there was a time when I drank much and when I could take in a lot of alcohol. A wake-up call came after a booze in June this year, when after clearly overdosing alcohol the next day hangover was not my only problem; my kidneys refused to work and I ended up on emergency ward with symptoms of body poisoning, having to gulp instantly two litres of mineral work to kick-start the poisoned organs. Until today I feel ashamed of my irresponsible behaviour and resolved to give up on binge drinking forever.

3. Sleeping through the whole weekend – no longer apposite.

Me: Never had that problem. There are plenty of interesting things one can do over the weekend, so sleeping is a waste of time…

4. Paying off all debts, particularly those on credit cards…

Me: I have had a credit card for eight years and I have always repaid it before the end of grace period. But on the other hand I have friends for who a credit card is a source of easy spending, without minding the fact one day its balanced will need to be cleared and if it is done too late, the cost of borrowing is high.

5. Strange people all around in life. Time to get rid of them…

Me: In recent months, while trying to lift myself from the post-exam mess, I have also resolved to tell between shallow relationships and those which deserve to be fostered. Quality is more important than quantity. For one’s psyche it is more valuable to have a few dedicated friends than hundreds of acquaintances actually indifferent to you. Upshot – some phone numbers deleted from the phonebook, birthday date removed from facebook to ensure no hollow wishes next birthday and the most important – if I run across somebody on a street and put forward to meet, I call them and insist we meet! It has to said such attitude involves being very straightforward to people, something I appreciate more and more with time.

6. Stop reaching out for money to parents. It is not about living with parents, but about economic dependence.

Me: My general stance since the age of 22 when I began to earn money for which I could eke out a living is that a young man should finance all their whims from own pocket and give parents money for house maintenance. Never ever have I asked for or suggested I want money from parents, except recently, when I openly asked whether they would give me some money (up to 25% of total cost) for a purchase of a flat.

7. Holding your horses while doing shopping. Reckless spending should become thing of the past.

Me: Never been fond of gadgets and saved for a flat, so again, not my problem. Yet self-indulgence is a problem I observe with many people, regardless of their age. It is a matter of character and habits, not the age, I would claim.

8. Giving up smoking.

Me: never had a cigarette in my mouth.

9. Announcing parties on facebook – no longer on.

Me: Have never done it, being restraint with facebook. Reality is off-line and may it stay so… I guess here the author began to run out of bright ideas what else to add to the list…

10. Regular and consistent work-out to keep body fit.

Me: Since my commute to work is too simple and repeatable (car & underground) and work is sedentary, this makes a necessity. Dance classes once a week, swimming pool once a week and twenty minutes of exercise a day (yet not every day) do their bit, yet I feel it is not enough.

11. Healthy food: time to abandon junk food and the likes.

Me: Never been fond of McDonald’s / kebab-style eateries, yet eating out in town or buying ready meals from catering door-to-door company is not the most commendable form of nutrition. Maybe time to learn to cook something more complicated and begin to prepare lunches to work on one’s own?

12. Taking care of one’s skin. Problems with acme are long gone, but wrinkles being to appear.

Me: A piece of advice aimed rather at females, yet I use a liquid and a gel for face skin if I am to confess.

13. Taking responsibility of one’s deeds is how a mature man behaves…

Me: Obviously.

14. Décor of one’s room / flat which does not resemble a teenager’s room.

Me: I parted with this part of décor in room when my parents and I moved to NI when I was 16…

15. Splurging money at painting the town red. Going out to town from time to time is okay, but not every day.

Me: See comment to point #7. Plus… Roaming around town once in blue moon or more often, if one can afford it, is no evil.

16. Spend more time with family and care more about relatives.

Me: What I crave for is my own family. Of course, and especially as an only child, I will have to take care of my parents, yet not at the expense of personal life.

17. Minding the cleanness / tidiness at home as yet another proof of maturity.

Me: I dislike scruffiness, I do not feel at ease in messy interior. The question is whether it runs in genes or is an effect of upbringing…

18. Carrying things through… Once an adult sets about doing something, they strive to complete it, against all odds.

Me: Those who know me, know the answer…

19. An elephant’s memory is not a good advisor. The ability to forgive and rebuild tattered relationships is vital in adult life.

Me: My ambition is not to take umbrage nor to kick up a fuss, no matter how lousy circumstances are. Resentments, though sometimes inevitable, should stay in the darkest nooks and crannies of human minds. Yet forgive cannot always mean forget.

20. Taking care of your teeth…

Me: Again, needless to say… What a truism…

21. Start saving… Setting up a savings account or a pension plan seem reasonable…

Me: See points #7 and #15

22. Age awareness. Turning 30 should prompt you to act your age, live consciously, yet live it up!

Me: Sometimes it seems I go over the top in this respect and if I rejuvenated myself, I would be better off. Youth after all is not behind me.

For some reasons, the list could have been supplemented with many other points reflect expectation a society has towards people aged around 30. And for some reasons, they have not been put on the list. The author has not mentioned getting married, having children, finding a permanent job or moving out of parents’ dwelling. Had the two former been listed, boundaries of an individual’s privacy would have been encroached upon. If finding a spouse is often a matter of luck or being out of luck while more and more people for biological reasons cannot have children, urging people to do something about it would be out of place. While in the era of junk contracts, commanding young people to make career and set up own households might indicate the author is out of touch…

I only wonder why turning 30 has been set as milestone for the end of carefree youth? If formally one becomes adult at the age of 18 and many people fly the nest shortly thereafter to begin studies away from home and often need to fend for themselves, why 30? Indeed, the age at which people do something about their lives increased in the recent decades but has the omnipresent cult of youth done the job? Is the fear of entering adulthood (or rather taking responsibilities) here to blame? Or is it just a simple desire to remain young as long as possible? And, after all, why cannot the words: young, responsible, mature, go together?

Worlds apart

The girl

When I joined the New Factory she was already there. I passed her by each day several times while walking past the reception desk on our floor. She looked twenty and I thought she was a weekend-mode student working as an assistant to earn money for her university tuition fee.

Normally the occupation of a receptionist is treated as temporary. Usually students take up such mundane jobs to earn a livelihood, sometimes to fill their CVs and then they move on to more ambitious positions. This is not the case here.

She is quite sociable. Easily hits it off with everyone, yet her come-and-go attitude does not help her build true friendships. With time it turns out she is 45 days younger than me, yet since I was born in December and she in January the next year, she finished her studies a year later (in 2012). As a child she was an actress, in her career she had some impressive roles in films and TV series. If you tap her name into google, you will find her more-or-less up-to-date photos and learn in 2012 she graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Warsaw University (full-time studies). Tens of fans are wonder what she’s doing.

The job with a New Factory is the first one she has held on to for more than one year and the first one in which she has a regular job contract, involving all rights, privileges and pension contributions, rather than a junk contract. Actually she only cares about the type of contract for only one reason: with a regular labour-code-governed contract she is entitled to 20 days of paid holidays a year. Until now when she felt like going somewhere, she’d quit her job and upon return looked out for a new one. None of her jobs was anyhow related to what she had studied, comparing to what her studies should have prepared her for, all her previous jobs (and the current one) seemed actually well below her competencies.

She likes the job with the New Factory. It involves meeting lots of people and chatting to them, keeping them company during lunches, making a morning coffee to a management board member. She appreciates the fact her job involves no strain and no stress. Office workers around her have hectic days, face pressures, get irate easily. She doesn’t understand their quandaries and is glad her job is so carefree, despite the fact she earns just a fraction of what her stressed-out workmates get paid. Her salary is just enough to meet her basic needs: cosmetics, clothes, weekend clubbing, holidays; a very decent pocket money. Her parents with who she lives seem to put up with her lifestyle and her grandpa whose car she uses (and once a month she leaves the vehicle, grandpa fills it up and then she picks it up with full tank of petrol) also seems to be quite tolerant.

While we lunched last week, she told me to look at her and asked what I thought she should be doing in life. After turning down several ideas she had come up with, I suggested she should search for a job in which she could make use of the knowledge accumulated during five years of law studies. She nodded her head, pulled a face, nearly burst into tears and said it would need to involve some strain.

She backs PO. She believes PiS is backward and would bring nothing good for Poland. She tells Mrs Szydło should return to the sack (Szydło wróć do worka, a pun stemming from a Polish idiom, when reversed meaning bad things should come out of light).

The neighbours

They have lived in NI since ever, their parents as well. They were on this land years before building houses on this suburb became all-the-rage in the 1990s. They sold little of the land they had had, since the family was big and a sizeable plot was needed to put up houses for all the children.

The neighbour is the local, his wife comes from eastern Poland. They met the time he was breeding foxes in late 1970s. They got married and prospered well until 1989 when exports of fox furs to the former Soviet Union came to a halt and consequently their business went bust. In the new reality they engaged in some trade with the former Soviet Republics, yet as they were shuttling between NI and the borders, four children they had at the time began to be brought up on the street. Then they switched to local trade and opened a stall on the former biggest bazaar of the CEE, where today the National Stadium is. Golden times have gone by and for more than a decade the neighbour and his wife have been jobless. They do not need to. Their properties are large enough to sublet rooms for construction workers (20 PLN per person a day, yet in black economy) and officially let a larger hall for a company (here already a registered business, generating a recurring stream of income of a few thousand per month).

Their older son (32) is a successful graduate of a technical university. While he was approaching graduation, his professors had a high opinion of him and recommended him for a few positions which could give him prospects of brilliant career. Eventually he has not taken up any of those jobs. I have no idea, whether potential employers have rejected his candidacy or whether he turned down all those jobs, because they would have interfered with his academic career, namely the doctoral studies he began eight years ago and in the meantime suspended for a year; his PhD is still pending.

Their younger son (29) according his parents’ ambition was meant to firstly finish studies and then to find a job with a town hall. Unfortunately, so far there was no job offered to him there, while the family’s ambitions are put on hold, the son takes up temporary jobs on construction sites (he indeed is a dab hand).

Two daughters (27 and 25) have finished studies and work as shop assistants in one of clothing retail chains’ shops, most probably also on junk contracts. The youngest daughter (14) keeps learning and watches her parents and older siblings staying at home or dabbing in dead-end job. What are the chances she pursues a career ambitious people want to make?

Despite the fact the family consists of seven people they easily make ends meet. They have a variety of sources of income: rent from their corporate tenant, some cash from construction crews renting rooms, the neighbour’s sickness benefits, the older son’s assistant salary, the younger son’s wages from construction sites, the daughters’ salaries from the retailer. Except for the office rent proceeds, these are most probably peanuts, yet add up to a sum which allows the family to meet their basic meets. Fair enough.

The neighbour and his family hankers after PRL, yet votes for PiS, despite not being totally fond of all points of the party’s agenda. Yet PiS passes muster, it will restore law and order in Poland, take away the wealth from the elites to give it to ordinary people and put behind bars all thieves and cons who currently run the country.

In the descriptions above I did my utmost to include only facts and avoid expressing any opinions on how other people choose to live. Yet there must be a reason why I have decided to post the two stories. Every time I read in a newspaper or in the Internet about my peers as a “lost generation” (stracone pokolenie) I wonder whether it is the system or the people (the ever-lasting question) that should be blamed for the failures of many of the youngsters…

Next weekend I’m off, next post in two weeks.

Życie

I generally hold a view if somebody takes decisions, they are not entitled to gripe about the fate these decisions bring. This year-end post will likely be inconsistent with my overall stance. I also realise this note might exude egocentricity. Every human is more or less self-centred and I presume the very self-focus itself is not disturbing, only an excessive degree of is a reason for concern. Some of you may perceive this piece as over-exposing my mindset. Your right. While mine is to decide what to save for posterity and for myself on the blog and thus I’m exercising it, heedless of doubts and inhibitions.

Chaos creeping in…

Twenty past five. I don’t need an alarm clock to wake up precisely on that hour on a working day. Oddly enough my bio-clock has learnt to recognise days of a week. On Saturdays it brings me awake half an hour later and on Sundays around seven. I’m drowsy anyway. After suffering from insomnia last summer, I swing into another extreme. I’m comatose and a perfect dosage of sleep is nine to ten hours, some two hours more than an average adult needs. During the day I happen to be sleepy, but never take a nap. Since early childhood I’ve never been capable of sleeping during the day. Any attempts to fall asleep during the day ended up with either staying awake or a quarter-long snooze leaving me fallen apart, rather than perked up… Maybe it’s because of the weather. Never hurts to find an exogenous (watch out, a difficult word, try to replace it with shorter “external”) factor to put a blame on. Short, dark, gloomy days rarely lift spirits. Oddly enough, this year I don’t feel the end-year blues so characteristic to the period of studying…

Then breakfast and morning toiletry and time to set off to work…

The first stage of my commute is journey by car to park and ride Ursynów. Driving calms me down. This may seem odd to you, as many find this activity stressful. I find the harmony between movements of my limbs and the way the car moves. Behind the wheel I continually strive to strike a balance between dynamic and economical driving. Each move of legs needs to be carefully planned and smoothly made and properly synchronised. No lurching is self-allowed, no abrupt braking (unless warranted by situation on the road) or accelerating as well. Such style of driving greatly increases the comfort of driving and reduces the car’s wear and tear. The car, despite its age, well reciprocates with reliability the way I look after it (no smallest repair since May 2013). I slightly fear the moment it begins to call for cash injections might draw nearer due to frequent longer distances recently covered. Motorway driving wears out a vehicle much less than city driving, but each such trip adds several hundred kilometres to a mileage (still very low, given the age of the car). I actually like taking longer journeys by car, and if someone from the team needs to take it, I come forward. They calm me down…

Work. Five months into the job with the New Factory is I guess too short for authoritative summary. I will write up a comprehensive rundown after one year (i.e. in late July 2015). For the time being I can confine to a conclusion the shake-off period is over and although it’s still uphill, the slope is less steep, and to a conclusion the biggest downside of the change are people and interpersonal relationships at the New Factory. For sure, it’s not a black-and-white world, there are several shades of grey in between and exceptions that prove a rule. In terms of people I have to work with, I miss folks from the Employer. With hindsight however, given the fact the Employer has been put up for sale, the decision to change the job looks at least rational and was the best I could do in those circumstances. Disposal of the Employer by the Wicked Corporation may have twofold consequences. Either the Watchdog will give consent to another market player to take it over and merge with its current business. This will mean much part of the Employer would most likely be wiped out. Alternatively, the Employer will be acquired by a foreign investor willing to get a foothold on the Polish market. If such investor was reasonable (i.e. came from country other than Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, Russia, United States or from Asia), it could create an interesting opportunity for a comeback… For months to come this will be a daydream and I will have to stick to what I’ve chosen for myself…

Home… Later than most peers I’ve grown up to a stage when I happen to clash with parents. All of us are getting older, tend to do things our own way. My inner call for autonomy gets more audible, hence it is high time I moved out. For some reasons for some parents the moment when a child flies the nest is a shock, for others it’s totally natural. Mine fall into the first category, therefore I’m preparing them for that moment, due in the second half of next year…

If I broach the topic of the family, theme of grandparents naturally crops up. They’d been capable of managing on their own until late July 2014. On 29 July 2014 granny (aged then 88, currently 89) fell over and a small injury has left has almost bed-ridden (fortunately she is capable of walking to the bathroom and back). The aftermath of minor tripping over wouldn’t have been so acute, had it not been for neglected (granny is quite stubborn) for many years osteoporosis. The grandparents still somehow complement one another; granny is mentally still sound (although there are short moments when she drifts away); grandpa (aged 88) is physically quite fit, but dementia seems to be progressing (he has no problem walking to a marketplace to buy food produces, but when he arrives there despite having a list of stuff to buy, he might have problems expressing himself to ask for what he wants to buy). When grandma’s health suddenly deteriorated I thought the end was near, now I see grandparents may carry on like this for years, which does not imply bright prospects. Reaching grand old age brings out joy when it is accompanied by good health, something may grandparents enjoyed mere half a year ago. The main burden of taking care of them falls to my father and his brother. As the only child I thereby appreciate the advantage of having siblings…

Revisiting the topic of work, one of my fears before going there has not materialised, namely one doesn’t have to do overtime as a rule. As in every company operating in competitive environment, there are incidences of keeping late hours, but those are exceptions that prove the rule. This means if I knock on around eight a.m., I’m usually back home around six p.m.

The essential part of evenings during the working week is learning. Back when preparing for Levels I and II, I had a habit of taking the study materials to the office, coming to work before eight and studying until half past eight (in the morning). At the New Factory work kicks off an hour earlier than in most companies in the industry, as a result of which I have no choice but to learn in the evenings. Between 7 and 8 p.m., when I usually sit down and pore over Readings, I’m not as brisk as in the morning, but there’s no alternative. Learning during weekends only is not enough. After passing Level II, there was absolutely no point in putting back taking Level III until precisely non-defined point in future, since such move would diminish my odds of seeing the back of it. The most reasonable course of action was to go ahead and strive to complete the Program in 2015. If I pass and then I earn the Charter, I’ll probably be immensely proud of myself. Before it happens there will be many days when I’ll be swearing like a trooper. I estimate I spent some 330 hours before taking Level I, around 370 before taking Level II and given intricacy of Level III, I will need to commit more than 400 hours to stand a chance to pass Level III. The Program is a genuine time-consumer and requires some sacrifices. Hats down to people who have children and pass consecutive exams. If I don’t pass in June 2015 (not inconceivable), I’ll need to rethink whether value added of retaking the exam would surpass sacrifices…

The (mostly) sedentary lifestyle has began to take its toll on me. Relapsing pains in bottom section of my spine prompted me to get my act together. I took up daily exercising in mid-October and carry on until now, gradually stepping up intensity and load. Saturday’s 40 minutes of swimming and Sunday’s long walks proved insufficient. But a daily dose of physical exercise does well to my body. Has not worked a miracle, but I feel brisker, fitter and pains down my spine have gone away.

In terms of friendships. I foster them and broadly I feel genuinely surrounded by people, but… There are two buts. The first is that more than 90% of my friends either have got married or have partners who can be dubbed would-be spouses. The second but is that all of us spend a lot of time at work and then focus on down-to-earth duties, either objective or self-imposed, meaning it takes some effort to set a time and date suitable for everyone to meet up. As a result the friendships are kept up mostly by the phone and by computer. Not the most preferable way, but better than none.

When it comes to personal life. I confess not to have sought a girlfriend since that plea. It’s not about utterly giving up or losing heart. Desperate lookout is a dead-end street. Besides, before I write it, I know, it’s an idiotically lame excuse, but squeezing a woman into the world in which I don’t feel entirely comfortable, yet I don’t find time to feel emptiness, is a challenge. It’s a lame excuse, because if not now, then when? With time it will only get worse… Fortunately, at least I have a friend with who I can go to cinema or somewhere else, if any of us feels like. She’s two years older, also single. You’d ask why she’s not my girlfriend then. The reason is simple – no chemistry between us. A silly explanation? When I’m beside her I’m not tempted to hug her, hold her hand or kiss her, let alone going to bed. It’s not about her being unattractive. Sometimes the two don’t fit together. That simple and that complicated.

If you’ve had the patience to keep on reading until the last paragraph, most probably you expect a sensible bottom line. No such luck. I won’t turn my life upside down without rhyme and reason. To do so, I’d need a profound rationale… Until 6 June 2015 I don’t expect any revolutionary changes and plan to get by as I do now. By definition this approach is imperfect, yet optimal. By taking some steps rashly I’d risk tearing apart what seems to make sense. And then… Time will tell… Several times I considered finding a job abroad and moving there. I would definitely get by, maybe I would get ahead, but the only problem is that whenever I am abroad, I strongly feel it’s not home (probably nothing unusual). Plus I’d have to start everything from scratch, totally on my own, which on one hand means opened up opportunities, on the other is a stressful experience…

Growing mature?

At the Soulmate’s insistence, I finally re-watched “A beautiful mind”, the magnificent film I once had seen when it went to silver screen and I had been fourteen then. I only remembered I had been under the spell of the drama; nothing more. The second viewing, dozen of years after the first one, had all features of the first viewing. For the first hour of watching, I was promising myself to look up whether John Nash’s mathematical genius was indeed exploited U.S. Army agencies in the first years of cold war. Subsequent scenes passed by until I finally realised most of the plot I had witnessed were just John Nash’s delusions or a blend of reality and figments of the great mathematician’s imagination. Then ensued the gruesome depiction of him, fighting the illness.

The film is neither a faithful biography of Mr Nash, nor does it focus on his contribution to theory of economics. The big-screen interpretation of his biography leaves out some facts from his life (my point of reference is the wikipedia entry) and distorts others. It totally omits the story of having an illegitimate child before getting married, the divorce to his wife, as well as the fact they were not married in 1994 when he was receiving the Noble prize. The selective references to his academic achievements seem actually in place, given most of the audience have basic notion of game theory, economics and abstract aspects of mathematics and would actually get bored if the film dwelled on academic concepts.

The plot actually revolves around the theme of a hell a person suffering from paranoid schizophrenia goes through. I have no idea how much trouble the crew shooting the film had taken to explore perception of the world by a person afflicted by that mental illness, so I would not dare to assess the accuracy with which the delusion Mr Nash could have had, were presented. Probably even extensive studies on schizophrenia-affected mind and hours spent talking with psychiatrists specialising in the topic would just allow to produce a substitute, simplified picture of what actually goes on in ill person’s head.

The moment a viewer realises the events they have followed for the half of the film were just a delusion, comes as a shock. The scenes witnessed in the second half of the film emanate with torment afflicting a mentally-ill outstanding academic.

I wonder why has someone come up with this very and no other title of the film. What was so ‘beautiful’ in Mr Nash’s mind? The film might not depict truthfully the mathematician’s disposure, attitude towards the world and relationships with people and I should make allowances for it. But the picture of his personality which emerges from the film shows an outstanding academic whose grasp of complex mathematics and ability to describe interactions in the world using algorithms and equations are totally outshined by absolute lack of social competencies and conviction of his own superiority. According to the article dated 2002, when the film was nominated to Oscar Award, the film deftly passes over dark sides of Mr Nash’s biography, as in the reality his conduct was at best shameful. As the author points out, at the time of releasing Mr Nash was still alive and could sue film-makers for putting him in bad light, therefore they have filtered out all “sludge” (a perfect equivalent of Polish omnipresent word SYF) and have put out a rose-coloured, though poignant picture of a man trying to overcome the mental disease. In fact, Mr Nash was an exceptionally gifted, but full of himself mathematician, those talents were offset by social deficiencies. No mind over matter here for me and no sympathy for the devil.

Despite his ‘lousy character’, John Nash will go down in history as a Noble prize winner who has made considerable contribution into game theory. It has to be noted his exceptional intellect made him prone to mental illness which almost knocked down his career.

Recall the story of my classmate who once begged me to lend him money (I have not recovered until today)? Karol was also remarkably clever, therefore my first guess on why he had wheedled out thousands of zlotys from his friends was schizophrenia. Only later his mother told me he had fallen into compulsive gambling. But my general observation was spot-on – even his therapists confirmed due to his wits, curing his addiction was more complicated. I last called his mother in December 2012, she was very reluctant to talk me and only let me know he was still doing his time for unpaid debts. Watching “A beautiful mind” reminded me of his calamity. I wonder what and how he is doing…

Mother Nature when she endows people with competencies usually strives to be even-handed when giving out talents. Those generously bestowed with some skills lack other. The other story is that intelligence and emotional intelligence often do not pair up. A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in a meeting on talent development in my company during which someone asked a question, whether there can be any drawbacks of retaining most clever employees. Without second thoughts I responded: “A not really clever employee will do their job according to the rules and will not take the trouble to think how to circumvent them. A quite clever employee might be shrewd enough to come up with a way how to circumvent the rules, but if internal control systems are efficient enough, they will be caught. An outstandingly clever employee will not only circumvent the rules, but will also dupe the internal control system. Thus their misconduct might unnoticed and results might grow big until they blow up the whole company.” My not really well-thought-out (in the context of the meeting and its participants) was maybe politically incorrect, but I believe was actually spot-on. The more intelligent you are, the more dangerous you are. The history has proven this dependency right.

Drifting back from another digression to the pivot of this post, I posit one should sometimes grow up to fully grasp content one is exposed to it. This spans from understanding purports of books, films or dramas to taking part in religious celebrations. My reception of “A beautiful mind” differs from impressions the film made on me in 2002. The same happened recently when I read George Orwell’s 1984 for the second time, while the first time was in 2006.

Recently I repeatedly asked myself a question whether familiarising young people with some stuff should not be deferred. Two months ago I went to a theatre to see an enjoyable, hilarious, play. Most of the audience were teenagers (aged approximately 16 who came as organised school group) who most of the time would burst out laughing, giggle, whistle or shout something towards actors. Oddly enough, shortly thereafter I read a letter from a reader of Gazeta Wyborcza, who experienced even more scandalously behaving youngsters in another theatre. I am of the opinion sensitivity to high art should be instilled into young people before it is too late, especially because not everyone’s parents care about this aspect of child’s development, but should such occurrences be the price to be paid?

When can you say you are young?

A man is as young as he feels, not as he is… Age is much better determined by one’s behaviour than by date of birth. Context also matters. 30-year-old man who still studies is an old student, but his peer becoming a prime minister would be considered extremely young.

The question on perception of youth has been prompted by the article published in“Polityka” several weeks ago, dwelling on political careers of four well-recognised politicians, all in their 30s, deemed, not only in that instance, “young”.

The ‘young’ tag was quite reassuring for me – if they are 7.5 to 13 years older than me, long before my youth goes by.

The oldest of all those guys is Sławomir Nowak, born in 1974. He first became a deputy in 2004 (after elections to the Euro parliament). In 2010 he was responsible for running presidential campaign of current president Bronisław Komorowski, then for a year and a half he was in charge of president’s office. In November 2011 subsequently he was appointed minister of transport and infrastructure, shortly before Euro 2012 opening. Many considered this nomination a nail to his coffin, as the area of his ministry’s responsibility was a huge mess. Delays in road contracts completion, bankruptcies of contractors and subcontractors of road-building projects have not dragged him down, but he fell into a trap of the fondness for expensive watches he would exchange with his friends. Mr Nowak was charged with concealing in his financial disclosure statement a watch worth 17,000 PLN and submitted resignation. The watch worth more than yearly after-tax minimum pay had to bring about indignation in Poland. Most Poles held it against him he had flaunted stuff an average Pole cannot afford to buy, but in fact this is just a tip of the iceberg and something not really meaningful. What should have really called into question his political career were tie-ups with businessmen (Cam-media, etc.) and mismanagement…

Tomasz Kaczmarek, born in 1976, became famous in 2007, when as an anti-corruption agency officer he seduced and then (within the letter of law) bribed a Civic Platform deputy. His mission and its aftermath was exposed to the public five days before parliamentary elections. The move, astonishingly, tipped the scales in favour of Civic Platform. In 2010, aged 34, he retired. As a 35-year-old (!!! here the term “young” is so apposite !!!) pensioner was elected a deputy from Law and Justice list. In November 2013, while driving his girlfriend’s Porsche Cayenne he was so preoccupied with pondering upon the situation of Poland that he rear-ended another car. In December 2013 recordings of Mr Kaczmarek threatening his partner’s ex-husband in foul language leaked to the media. Recently he was ousted from the grouping nurturing law and justice. Mr Błaszczak told today the party could not put up with his misconduct. They began to see the light, belatedly…

Przemysław Wipler, born in 1978, Polish conservative politician, formerly a member of Law and Justice. He left Kaczyński’s party of account of its inadequate economic liberalism and sometime ago joined Jarosław Gowin’s fledging grouping. In late October 2013 the exemplary husband and father to five children (including the one unborn, counted in, in accordance with Catholic doctrine) picked up a fight with policemen outside a posh club (as befits a conservative politician) on ul. Sienkiewicza in Warsaw. Then, during public appearances he tried to make himself a martyr. To no avail… He was really young when he took charge of one departments in the ministry of economy. He was only 27 then… Did he have, three years of university graduation, pertinent experience to be in charge of a unit in a ministry or did he owe the appointment his political tie-ups?

Adam Hofman, born in 1980 is the youngest and the most remarkable politician out of the four described by “Polityka”. His political career picked up speed when, aged 25, he was elected to the parliament in September 2005. He emerged as Law and Justice’s rising star by virtue of being the brains of the party’s electoral campaigns and PR. Brash and bold, insolent and over-confident, there is no barefaced lie, accusation, nor absurdity that would not flow out of his mouth without a moment of hesitation. The guy is not likeable, even ardent believers of PiS, on Toyah’s blog have not embrace his doings in politics. In 2013 he became infamous for boasting about the size of his penis during party’s off-site and then, for concealing in his financial disclosure statement a 100,000 PLN loan (a move quite common among money launderers). As the charges against have lapsed, the investigation has been discontinued and he was reinstated as the party’s spokesman. I foresee one day JarKacz will regret allowing him to play second fiddle in the party.

When speaking about “youngsters” in politics it is hard to fail to mention the new finance minister. This “very young” man is 38 and has 16 years’ experience in banking, including serving as chief economist for several years. Since taking the office, the new minister made very few public appearances. Judging by the sparse evidence of them, it has to be noted he is nowhere as good as his predecessor in terms of speaking in public and coming under fire from detractors. Mr Rostowski could not be denied outstanding composure. When attacked, he would always stay even-tempered, calmly and clearly made his point and, if necessary, retorted his opponents incisively. The new minister seems to have focused on turnaround of the tax system, convoluted and taxpayer-unfriendly. A stride should be made when comes to simplifying and ‘humanising’ the taxation system, but the recent proposal that tax returns will be filled by tax office clerks rather than taxpayers immediately triggers a question “who will pay for this?” – we are talking about millions of tax returns – it takes workforce that have to be paid from taxes paid by us… Well, my ideal finance minister would a down-to-earth, pragmatic practitioner, not a starry-eyed scholar. For Mr Szczurek the new position is a enormous challenge and will have to learn a lot.

The “juvenile” minister backs youngsters in his office – he hired a 21-year-old student with little experience and 23-year-old ruling party member. This gets more controversial – my perspective changes, as I am witness thriving careers of people younger than me. But try to imagine what an average reader of a Polish tabloid (much older than me, not well-educated and not well-off) thinks, when they read that a 21-year-old student will earn twice as much as them after twenty or thirty years of work, or a 23-year-old distinguished party member will earn 8,000 PLN a month before tax, salary out of reach for over 95% of Poles.

Also Mr Sienkiewicz, internal affairs minister also follows the practice of giving chances to youngsters. This is a great fodder for tabloids and their readership. The key questions is how those people were selected. If they are party henchmen or children of friends, then the practice is condemnable. If they were the most skilled and up-and-coming out of hundreds of applicants, chosen in a candidly carried out recruitment proceedings, why not. Salary of 4,000 PLN before taxes, some 10% above national average (but 100% above national median salary!) is (subjectively) not a reason for outrage. Many of my peers and I earned more when we were 23.

The post is aimed to raise a question, whether age should be a criterion when assessing someone’s competencies for a certain position. In some cultures, for example in Japan, seniority is an important determinant of one’s rank in a hierarchy, in other how quickly one can climb the ladder of career is a matter of their skills, hard work and other factors. Undeniably, the younger you are, the more likely you lack experience, because it simply takes time to gain it. But if out of two candidates with similar competencies for a specific position the older one is selected, because it seems more appropriate for a decision-maker, this looks like age discrimination.

Poles aged 30 – portrayed, but accurately?

From time to time journalists of Gazeta.pl (online flank of Agora S.A., one of the most influential, leftist-liberal, media holdings in Poland) come up with series of articles dwelling on social problems. Quite recently two of them encouraged readers of the portal, aged near 30, to share with wider audience how their dwellings looked and what their material status in terms of housing conditions was. I usually keep track of such series with some does of curiosity, but that time I impatiently waited for each consecutive article, then read each of them with bated breath and avidly followed record-long comment threads…

The larger project run in attempt to paint a collective portrait of generation of 30-year-old Poles began by posing a question why people born in early 1980s are reluctant to have children. In the next step journalists resolved to find out where and how those people live and how the finance their housing needs.

The first article is a string of brief stories which paint a bitter-sweet picture…

Kaśka, aged 32, and her husband co-rent a room in a bigger flat. It’s cheaper and more practical, yet at times inconvenient. Their salaries would suffice to rent a tiny flat in a shanty town, but they prefer a 20-metre room in a flat shared with other people. Tensions sometimes appear, but when they are in need, they may count on their flatmates. In the meantime they put aside money to have equity and get mortgage on more favourable conditions. As for now, no bank finds them creditworthy. Purchase of property with cash – out of reach.

Błażej, aged 30, lives with his girlfriend in her 42 sqm flat (probably inherited or bought by her parents, photo suggests it’s located in Służew, part of Mokotów district, Warsaw). Given his girlfriend’s and his earnings, they wouldn’t be capable to service any mortgage debt, nor to rent any flat. Their aspirations have been fulfilled. Probably hadn’t it been for the windfall (his girlfriend’s own flat), they would live with parents…

Agata, aged 31, and her husband live in a mortgaged flat. Shortly after getting married they lived in a rented flat, then when a child’s birth was imminent, they took out a loan. Month by month, they move closer towards “full ownership” of their flat.

Piotrek, aged 30, and his wife, with some support of their parents and bank financing, bought a 70 sqm on city fringes. In his view this was a fair trade-off between location and size. Debt burden is not excessive and the flat would be spacious enough when children are born.

Anka, aged 29, is also one of those better-off. Since she was 20 she lived in flats inherited after family, currently she and her husband live in a house built on a plot donated to them by husband’s parents. She’d be damned if she dared to complain about her housing conditions.

The stories above bring a moderate dose of optimism. All character manage, some better, some worse, but are satisfied with what the have and keep cheerful. When you begin to read next sent in pieces, smile is immediately wiped off you face…

Sferyczna, single woman, aged 30. Lives in Warsaw, but hails from provincial Poland. Worked for a while abroad, but has not managed to save any money. Currently rents a tiny room in a tiny flat and estimates is 5 years will be eligible for a mortgage. Interestingly, she claims to earn more than peanuts and still she declares she can afford very little…

Karolina, aged 31, and Marcin, aged 36, have one child and live in an old flat that could do with a comprehensive refurbishment. Mortgage is a huge burden for them, each unplanned expenditure or a second child would blow over their budget. Loan instalments make up more than half of their income – this speaks for itself…

Next piece contains two contrary opinions. Rafał, aged 31, and his wife wonder whether only grumblers are around. He wants his voice to be audible. Instead of grumbling his wife and he toil away up to 60 hours per week, have built a house and bring up two daughters. Not a word about any mortgage, but he mentions his father who runs a prosperous company. Despite having little spare time, he claims he is happy and encourages to sheer hard work, which, as he believes is a key to the door of financial and personal success.

Marek, aged 27, has co-rented a flat since coming to Warsaw 5 years ago. With his earnings, little more than 2,000 PLN after tax, he can only afford to rent a small flat and pay maintenance charges, this all sets him back some 1,500 PLN – after this he has 600 PLN to spend on food, travels, clothes, entertainment??? He sees future in anything, but bright colours – with his earnings he stands no chance to get a mortgage and own any property…

Need something upbeat, don’t continue reading… A 30-year-old single woman has just bought her own flat. The mortgage and refurbishment loans have both 23-year repayment schedules, but her own flat is a step forward after years of renting and sinking money to landlord’s pocket. Living conditions are pretty dire, but glimmers of hope bring about smile on her face. In a few months the flat will be finished. As for now, she saves on everything, including food and scrapes along, to service debt timely…

Another confession, written by a 29-year-old man. He works in a public sector, is employed for a finite period and earns minimum wage. No chance to move out of parents’ house, even to rent anything. No prospects of becoming self-supporting, of raising family, no feeling of stability. He’s angry with those who stigmatise his peers who keep living with parents. In fact many of them do this not out of fear of taking responsibility for their lives, of facing adulthood, etc., but they stick to their parents for purely financial reasons. When earning 1,500 PLN after tax, attempt to taste independence is like being thrown at the deep end… Hopes for future… None… just prospects of barely getting by…

Not yet miserable? Carry on! A 31-year-old single woman has a single-bedroom mortgaged flat, but she and her daughter live with her parents. The graduate of Polish studies and Journalism, since finishing school changed jobs many times. Each was supposed to have been temporary, before she found something more desirable. In 2010, with support of her parents and a bank she bought a flat. Soon after she was offered a new job, left the previous, well-paid one, and eventually was left out in the cold, because the new employer changed its mind. Never jobless, she had next temporary, poorly-paid jobs which allowed her to pay bills and mortgage instalments. A year after it turned out she was pregnant with a man who turned out to be too irresponsible to fulfil role of a father. To make ends meet, she moved to her parents and lets her flat to repay the mortgage… She wipes every night and slowly is losing hope for a better tomorrow…

Let’s face it – those letters have been picked out of several sent in to Gazeta.pl’s editorial room. The picture of the generation which emerges is a matter of who and on the basis of what criteria chooses which letters to publish.

More interesting are plentiful comment threads under the articles, counting several hundred entries. Comments can be divided into a few categories…

Predictably, quite a few commentators trot out the “young, educated, from big cities” myth – they argue the depicted misery bears a truthful testimony how in fact the “Green Island” looks like and what the youngsters got from the party they had voted for. How long before people realise politicians’ influence on people’s everyday is much smaller than they claim? Misery of many young people can’t be put down to “feckless rule of losers and traitors”, while if the biggest oppositional party came to power, it wouldn’t turn Poland into a land of milk and honey. Society and economy are driven by actions of millions of individuals, not by decisions and deeds of few politicians. They don’t have power to heal the country and, on the other side, have little power to screw things up. If I were to be malicious, I could say between 2005 and 2007 property prices in Poland soared by almost 100%, hence becoming less affordable.

Some commentators point out those stories do not hold water – why somebody takes out a loan and than changes a job, for a worse-paid one, how some of mortgage instalments calculations match with what somebody has left at their discretion, etc.? Some even claim the stories sound so incredulously that they appear concocted.

The more ruthless advise authors of the letter who take pity on themselves to blame themselves, not the rest of the world. Who made them choose dead-end studies? Who precluded them from working harder? Who told them to change jobs several times?

Other group indicate young Poles have over-inflated expectations regarding consumption and earnings, while it takes time to grow into wealth. The only way to consume more than you can afford to is living beyond means, which means living with a ball and chain in form of debts and praying luck streak doesn’t cease, as then the frail wealth collapses.

For my part – I have no right to complain… I’m better of in comparison to some 99% of my peers. I don’t live in my own flat, but this is only my choice – I can afford to rent or take out a mortgage, but since there’s no pressure to move out I keep living in my parents’ house (and give them little money each month) and put aside some 70% of my salary. I earn very decently and have prospects of even higher earnings, but on the other hand at the back of my hand there’s a seed of uncertainty – my employer knows how to send adrenaline rising and having seen people being fired (with 1-day notice and generous severance packages) I realise no matter how committed I am, one I day I can have an inadvertent slip-up or my employer may change strategy and back out of business segment I work at, resulting in my job contract being terminated. I have job contract for indefinite period and well-above national average salary, but in return am offered no stability. I don’t go mad with the awareness each day might be the last day of my work only because I don’t have to provide for a family and have no debts to settle.

I’m also far from sharing opinions of those telling those unhappy people to blame only themselves. Success, not only financial, is a combination of many factors, including parentage (if your parents are wealthy, you’re better off at the start), skills (many are inborn I believe, you may develop them or not, but if you really lack a specific skill, developing it won’t get you far), hard work (inborn skills without hard work are useless) and luck… Every day I happen to realise where I am now and what I do is just a stroke of fate… Of course I can’t pronounce it’s prudent to take dead-end studies in political sciences, change jobs frequently, or get pregnant with an immature man, but in some cases people are inarguably out of luck and telling them to blame themselves proves only lack of empathy. Not everyone has a chance to be born in the capital city, in well-off family, to have educated parents. Most people have it up-hill and in Poland I can’t honestly say others have it downhill.

I recently calculated, with my above-average earnings and possibility to put aside most of my salary, if I was to start saving from scratch now, I’d have to save for 6 years to buy an average 50 sqm flat in Warsaw, assuming property prices stayed unchanged. Some time ago I read an average Pole would have to save for 11 years their whole salary to buy such flat. Imagine this – live with your parents for 11 years, let them feed you, don’t buy clothes, cosmetics, don’t go out, don’t travel and after 11 years you can buy a flat for cash. If your parents can’t support you financially you can only take out a huge burden on your back and pray nothing goes wrong along the way. How young Poles live is an aftermath of still steep, in comparison to earnings, property prices in Poland. As many market specialist claim, only increased supply of dwellings could help solve this problem – this can be achieved in form of public-private partnerships – local governments building in partnership with property developers council flats for rent. But for this you need a proper legal framework and wise and honest people to run such schemes. Out of reach, just like own flat for an average Pole turning 30…

Apologies in advance for taking a break from blogging next week. I’m holidaying… At last :-)

Wedding after-thoughts

And so the season of knot-tying in 2012 kicked off. For no apparent reason, each such ceremony brings forth several more or less incongruous considerations in me.

Before the event I thought my friend’s wedding would be a great opportunity for our class to meet up. Unsurprisingly, as I pitched up to the scene, I went through a reality check. Albeit I can’t say this was a big let-down, par for the course, given six years that have elapsed since we went separate ways. There were five of us, including me, all boys, the four other still staying in quite close friendship with the groom. So most bonds in my high-school class have broken up…

The number of guests generally wasn’t staggering. Actually this was the third consecutive wedding I attended with a quite low turnout. So the ones that come over are usually family and close friends, plus, judging by the behaviours of some attendees, some onlookers. It’s nice to have a crowd, but I’m bracing myself for a sparse one on my own wedding… Fellow bloggers will be invited anyway.

A wedding is supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime ceremony. So how the hell can somebody turn up half an hour late for it? Prudent people take precautions and try to anticipate hitches when they plan. I set off from home 50 minutes before the beginning of the mass in the church and my journey went on smoothly until I got stuck in stationary traffic on Dolinka Służewiecka. Eventually, instead of being 30 minutes earlier, I came less than ten minutes earlier, but still was punctual.

Attire and general appearance. Maybe I’m too conservative, but I’m of the opinion casual clothes, dishevelled hair and dirt behind nails are not the apposite type of look a wedding guest should present. Dark suit, white shirt, impeccably knotted tie and properly polished patent leather shoes are a must. Maybe some people refuse to wear such clothes because they feel ill-at-ease when they put them on, maybe for some people occasions to wear elegant outfits are so rare that it makes no sense to keep them in the wardrobe, but gosh… The way you dress reflects upon your respect for fellow people and bears testimony of your sense of situation. Being overdressed maybe be as bad as being underdressed, but in the case of wedding, I’d focus on the latter risk.

Get-together with high-school classmates reminded me, again, people are made of different substances. In primary school I met children from my neighbourhood, from wealthier and poorer families, whose parents were university graduates or vocational school-leavers, from “normal” or pathological families. In middle school my entourage stayed roughly the same. Then I got in to a relatively good high school in Warsaw. More of my classmates had wealthier, better educated parents, lived in Warsaw or on the suburbs and virtually all of them were clever or hard-working. Then I went to Warsaw School of Economics, where I encountered the pick of Poland’s youth interested in economics, finance and other similar sciences. The further I went, the more high-flyers I could meet on my way. Some of my friends from primary school ended up as hairdressers or roofers, some are housewives. My high-school classmates are set up well in life mainly thanks to support of their parents. What I owe to my mother and father is negligible to what they got, but I don’t envy them. If better shapes you up, if you achieve something in life with your bare hands, but most people would prefer to live conveniently and have their parents paying for that.

And one more thing – what’s so poignant about weddings that so many people cry? Again, the bride interchangeably wept and laughed and this time several men shed tears. Why? Leave out crying is considered unmanly, but I can’t discern the reason. What’s so moving about two people of different sex promising each other love, faith and staying together till death tears them apart? I can only admire them for their bravery. Simply I never met somebody with who I would want to share my good and bad days, with who I would like to grow old. Once I met a girl I felt would make a great wife and good friend, which is essential for spending the rest of life together, but never felt something people call ‘love’ could last until the end of my days.

My mastery in economics doesn’t allow me to know the price of everything and the value of nothing, but I feel as a downright cynic right now. I saw some marriages breaking up, saw some of them swearing before God they wouldn’t part. Having observed this, marriage vows, especially spoken out in a church (where they swear before God, not before a clerk in a registry office) resound to me like hollow words. Now, you’re in love (incidentally, yesterday’s wedding was organised in haste, due to bride’s pregnancy), you’re intoxicated, one day infatuation is gone and you’ll have to share ups and downs of ordinary life, put up with habits and traits of your spouse. Time puts people to tough tests and maybe this is the reason why I would be wary to promise ‘forever and ever’…

Yesterday I had the impression my classmates haven’t grown up since we finished school. Time to get off their backs. Having written the paragraph above, I proved my own immaturity. Bartuś, time to grow up…