The prescribed answer to everything is "NO!" - the cultural symptom of Britain in the 'naughties' seems to be stone cold fear. Everybody is afraid of bankruptcy, being mugged, getting dumped, being fired, losing their keys - and this seething, deep seated paranoia seems to have spread into business like an unchecked disease.
Banks today are afraid of going down the pan, businesses terrified to spend money - irrespective of the source of the fear, whether it is due to greed in more bountiful times, or media hype, it still grips us with it's foul slimy hands and influences our daily choices. Whatever happened to simple business and economic acumen? Speculate to accumulate.
My recent visit to the United States with Touchstone opened my eyes to the way the Americans conduct their daily lives. Funny as it may be for some to unkindly accuse them of being fat, stupid and humourless with no grip on sarcasm, they actually have things down pretty well as far as interpersonal relationships go. The overall attitude seems different from ours, and from what I can see they focus less on what they can lose or acquire themselves, but more what they can indemnify their friends, family and colleagues against, or - more to the point - what they can gain for them.
From observing different attitudes and behaviours on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems (and not without a wry smile of irony) that many of the problems with society, business and relationships in Britain today boil down to our desire to please all the people all of the time, and our inability to simply say "no, thank you". Our fear of reproach or unpopularity drive us to cruel heights and twisted views on what is acceptable.
So many complain about being treated badly by the people around them, when all it may take is a purge of old sensibilities and a fresh look at the way things can be done to effect a significant change.
Next time you meet somebody, ask yourself not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them - you'll be very surprised by the results.
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