Friends

Today I sat down with a friend I have not seen for many years. We planned to meet for coffee. I was curious about her life, how many kids did she have? What's her job? Where does she live? How are her parents? I'm always a bit nervous in these situations, wondering if the conversation will be smooth or if there will be uncomfortable silences. I wonder, is she just being polite? Are we just doing this out of some strange sense of loyalty or obligation? Here's the beauty - when she turned into the coffee shop it was if I was transported back to those days at weekend college. She is as beautiful and fun as ever. We had our whole lives to share - there was a lot there. Our two hours of gabbing flew by and I still have so much to ask and say. What is that? How does that connection happen? It doesn't work for every friendship. But for the two of us - there is so much there. She shared about times that she thought of me because of something I said 15 years ago. And there are many moments in my life that she pops into my mind because of a memory or something that was said between us. I was growing up and figuring out my life when I went back to school. And I found someone who was doing the same thing. We weren't traditional college students. We had stumbled and fallen a few times on the way to figuring out our lives and it was so wonderful to find her there in class. We held each other up and cheered each other on. We laughed together a lot and tried to sort out relationships and family and all of it. I'm not sure that I ever really figured it out, but I found a great friend on the way. Yeah for friends!

The Paycheck

Here's something to ponder. The big banking and investment companies are whining because of the limits on the amount of pay they can offer potential candidates. Since they took bailout money, there is a limit on CEO compensation. They are whining because they are saying they can't get good candidates if they don't have a good compensation package. The trouble with this argument is that we have clear evidence that shows that even when you pay CEOs gobs of money, they still do a really crappy job. So why do they think it would work this time? Here's an idea, pay people a reasonable about of money for doing good work. Now wouldn't that be nice?