An-Ex Irishman's Diary -Thieves like us

Some random bloke took my suit jacket instead of his from a bar the other night. An understandable drunken mistake to make considering they were identical jackets sitting on the same stool. A not so understandable sober silence when it came to returning said jacket – both my Ipod and my phone number were in the breast pocket! Maybe he forgot to call.

Convenient. Like the guy that "forgets" to inform the cashier when he receives too much change, or when I "forget" to pay for my train fare because there's no inspector. Let's stretch it a bit. It reminds me of the politician that "forgets" certain dubious transactions, the white collar whizz-kid that forgets why he funnelled money from the accounts of corporate clients or the time-share salesman that "forgets" your face. If my random bloke's jacket was nicer would I have returned it to him? In a big city, where people are rude and blokes that wear nice suits tend to be wankers, what sort of rational incentive – in this instance – is there to return it?

Would returning an Ipod and a nice jacket to a wanker be more hassle than its worth? Who's gonnna know. Not returning it? Understandable, perhaps – in this instance. But whizz-kids, politicians, time share salesmen and fare evaders. Forget it.

An-Ex Irishman's Diary -Time well spent?

Time Well Spent?

Someone once said that: "to get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute."

I think it's fair to say that this is something every generation has always aimed for in one form or another.

Indeed, one of the biggest concerns among us MTV generationers is making the most of life. Common questions we often ask ourselves include: do we use our talents to help society? become rich beyond our wildest dreams? or do we use the globalised world to travel and explore? travel and help? educate the uneducated?

In this generation we have the luxury of taking security, in the hierarchy of needs, for granted - self actualisation is our goal.

Of course, this is a truly positive development given that most previous generations spent much of their time, and indeed lives, providing for others - this generation can make more pro-active decisions to help, to take, to inform others. Dare I say this generation has a de facto obligation to society because they can't fall back on the old excuse of 'having to pay the bills.'

In a time when food prices are forcing 100 million to the edge of starvation, religious divides are creating generation long wars and teenagers are still acting the maggot, it's a blessing that this emerging generation can be so outward looking.

Pity then, that we spend so much time agonising over our options, procrastinating about politics, 'finding ourselves' in far flung shores.

And while previous generations spent their time working to feed the clan this generation spends its time musing.Someone else once said: "to think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing."

It's amazing how far affluence has taken us.


You Cant' go home again