Let's learn a lesson from the Greeks

With the Yomim Tovim behind us, Chanukah on its way, and the beginning of Yeshiva open houses and yet another year of planning for the kids, I happened upon an article in the most recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine. I should probably note that I never read Vanity Fair, but I was at the dentist. It was the only magazine after the other patients were either reading Time, ESPN, Newsweek, and all of the home and gardening magazines. By the way, a special thank you goes out to all of you patients who take your magazine into the patient rooms at your dentists and doctors and then fail to bring the magazine back out to the main waiting room. Thanks for being an inconsiderate jerk.

I immediately skipped all of the inappropriate pictures of women and found an article by Michael Lewis, a famous author and frequent contributor to the magazine. See the bottom of this post for much more about Mr. Lewis***, but let's move on with this story. The article is "Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds". That is a play on the popular and more famous expression "Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts", and the article addresses the economic conditions in Greece. Lewis dives into the financial and govermental culture in Greece to understand why and how Greece got itself into the financial trouble it's in. In particular, he focuses on the overspending, the fraud, people's expectations of a certain quality of life. I recommend you pick up the magazine or at the very least, Google the article and read it in its entirely.

In thinking about this article.... I couldn't help but think about its correlative qualities to our own Bergen County jewish world. Am I just another irresponsible Greek thief? Have I assimilated too far to the Greek way of life, making the very mistakes that the Chashmonaim fought to avoid? I don't think I have, but there is no question in my mind that my children and my family are living a much higher quality of life than my parents did with their children. With the debt I'm carrying and the high quality of life, I'm sure that there are people who look at me and express disgust. Why can't this idiot just get his financial house in order before he spends money the way he does? Where does he come off asking various organizations to subsidize his expensive lifestyle?

I particularly enjoy when I read on other blogs how people have noticed the fancy cars, fancy vacations, big remodeling that others around them have done. My last vacation was paid with points from an old credit card, points that I would have lost if I didn't use them, and they were points that could not be converted into cash. Hotels and Airfare, only. That's not the card I use anymore, but it used to be. So hopefully that goes to dispel yet another crazed myth about the "less fortunate". I'm sure there are 500 more complaints, and I'll look for comments, both positive and negative in the weeks to come.



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*** Mr. Lewis is probably best known for having authored "The Blind Side", a book that ultimately became a top-rated movie in 2009. The movie starred Sandra Bullock and was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy, though it was ultimately defeated by another sensational film, "The Hurt Locker". Ms. Bullock won several awards for her role in the film. While I did love the movie and the book as well, this was actually not my favorite Lewis book. No, Lewis wrote "Liar's Poker", the story of a bond trader/salesman in the late 1980s. Based on Lewis' own experience, it is a particular fascinating and riveting tale and actually mirrored a lot of my same experiences working for a large investment broker during 1998-2000. I recommend it highly, it opens up a window into a world that few understand or have experienced.