Enough is Enough

The Manchild has only gone and got himself a job! Hallelujah, Allah be praised, my work is done. He’s landed himself the role of Deli Assistant in our local Supervalu, white coat, apron, hat, badge and all. I couldn’t be prouder, I’m a great believer in good, honest, hard work.

He came home after his first shift as elated as if he’d been to a festival. He is working as part of a team with other young people and this social interaction has put a spring in his step, a smile on his face and come payday, a few quid in his pocket.

I ran through a series of pep talks before he started. There were ones on cleanliness, respect, care and attention, and the importance of holding onto this job for the duration of his college life. Then I remembered I had received similar notes when I started working in J&E Davy Stockbrokers over 30 years ago.

It was my first job and I began in the private client department where Eugene Davy (the E of the firm’s title) called me into his office. He was 20 years past retirement age then, but in a Grace Brothers sort of way he still came in every day to be part of the firm he and his brother James had spent their lives building. I found him to be a gentleman, and have safely kept the notes he wrote out for me as I began my working life.

At the time I used to go to Lourdes to volunteer with the Dublin Pilgrimage every September as did some others in the company. We were given a weeks’ special leave to attend thanks to the generosity of Eugene Davy who also went and was happy to encourage others to go too.

During my seven years in Davy I worked in many sections and spent a few years on the Equity Trading Desk as assistant to the dealers. I reported trades to the Stock Exchange, updated share prices and matched buyers and sellers’ dockets. Only for the kindness of the only female trader, Ruth Hackett, I would have had to listen to a lot of locker-room talk. When talk would turn bawdy, Ruth would appeal to them, ‘lads, not in front of Margaret’ and they’d stop.

Cultural references of the time were The Bonfire of The Vanities and Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko which had a strong influence. It glamourised greed, privilege and entitlement with quotes of: greed is good, lunch is for wimps. I could never understand why finance is so highly rewarded when it is people who work in healthcare, education, food, the arts and social justice that really enhance our lives and improve our world.

I began to question why I was staying there and decided I’d be happier doing nursing. I hadn’t done biology for leaving cert so I went back and studied it on Saturdays in the Institute. I sat and got the exam, then applied to some hospitals and was called to Beaumont for interview. I felt excited that I was making change happen in my life.

That same week I was called in for my review and was offered, what to my 21-year-old self, felt like a big increase. I was faced with an age-old dilemma, follow your heart and be broke, or cling to security and let a little of your soul die. I’m sorry to tell you reader that I chose the latter, a decision I have regretted many times since. It didn’t take me long after that to realise corporate life wasn’t for me and I left.

It’s a bit like the old food pyramid we learnt about growing up. The bottom shelf laden with carbohydrates, and fats seen as off limits. That has been turned around now with plant-based foods recommended as our greatest food group. We’ve learnt the different between good and bad fats now and know their benefits.

It’s clear that how we live also needs to be remodelled. Instead of a pyramid of workers making a few at the top vastly wealthy, a fairer system is long overdue. We often hear about the economy we live in, I’d prefer if it was referred to as our society, which encapsulates broader issues than purely financial. In the same way that eating mostly carbohydrates makes you feel bloated and lethargic, being part of a cosy cartel stultifies your understanding of others and cuts off your connection to your fellow man.

I believe that what will bring meaningful change in the future, is an appreciation and investment in innovation, adaptability and creativity. Minds that see new possibilities in how we work and live and coexist on this little blue green ball we call home. A turning away from creating polarised groups of super-wealthy versus those stuck in poverty.

Greed is a relentless itch that cannot be scratched or soothed. It always wants more. What if we chose to be content with what we have? Is that such a radical idea? It’s a little like the toilet roll situation at the start of this pandemic. There was a lot of hoarding, people gathering as much as they could for themselves without concern for the others who would be left without. Money is just a resource, like time or energy, or toilet paper, it is not meant to be stockpiled, it should flow rather than stagnate.

As Gandhi once said, ‘There is enough on earth for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed’.

Soon, I hope, we will look back on this time and try to make sense of what it was. A plague, a nuisance, or an opportunity for change. Maybe it is a chance to rebalance the earth and its people. A time to turn the dial away from greed, towards simplicity. A pause to figure out what really matters. It would be a shame to go through all this only to return to our old ways.