Passionately inspired by the "youth"

I'm working on something here at work, something we all have no clue about :)

That's the fun of working in business development - you're not expected to have all the answers.

Anyway, we thought of someone who was working in the same space we want to get into, but in a different industry and called him in to have a meeting with us.

Meeting one was more of a fact-finding mission but meeting two....

Well, that meeting was fabulous. I've become a bit jaded working in this space because everyone thinks they have the Next Big Business Idea and they don't.

I was SO inspired by this young man with such good business sense and fantastic ideas. And passion!

I even took some notes for my business!

He arrived with 3 of his business colleagues, all so young with not a wrinkle between them, and they were all so self-confident and sure of themselves, without being arrogant.

I loved it.

Yes, I felt like a granny as I'm sure I'm nearly double the age of most of them :) but LOVED interacting with them and learning from them.


Then something else came to mind.

When we were in PE in December, D went to see a movie one night and I stayed behind to babysit.

I had a shower and because I don't dry myself (I air dry - does anyone else do this), I sat around in my towel for about 20 minutes, flipping through the channels and came across the Ms South Africa pageant.

Now I generally don't watch this kind of fluff but it was the interview stages which is being done very naturally these days, out in an adventure setting, and also, I quite like to poke fun at the girls. I'm terrible but really, world peace?

So I was very pleasantly surprised by one of the girls.

She was studying in Cape Town (in my view, the city of friendly people) and was a greenie, but a good greenie. She was busy studying something to do with eco-friendly buildings (B.Sc Property Science - I have a feeling that if they'd had this kind of thing "in my day" I would have done it too) and had started a library of green books for primary school kids.

Well, this girl had passion and I was transfixed.

I used to be her!

When I was at Rhodes, I was a green activist in as much as you could do in 1992. In those days, it was a big deal to have a recyclable bag :)

This girl was passionate not only about green buildings and about the earth, but just about life.

I was like that - full of big dreams and changing the world, making a difference.

Okay, I still have that but it's been tempered with a good old dose of cynicism and reality.

But I sat there in the hotel, with my fluffy white towel, thinking about this girl, out there doing these things.

So what happened to us?

I know I'm not the only one who was like that at 18.

I also know life happens and we get on with it but don't you want some of that get up and go back?

Or don't you care about these things?

I told myself after that meeting with the first guy that I really need to remain open-minded and retain some youthful enthusiasm.

And remember that 18-year-old girl at Rhodes who thought she could do anything.

Because I still can.