Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Financial Sector

Jobs are a bit tight so it took a few months for my daughter to land her first job despite being on the Dean's list. She was hoping to work in Human Resources but was offered a job in the banking sector. My dad was a Scottish Presbyterian farmer and he divided the world into those who were straight (impeccably honest) and those who weren't. And it was generally known that the narrow, straight path led to reward and being crooked led to ruin.
The 60s broadened a whole lot of societal rules and being a person of my times, I'm much more relaxed about life than my dad. He got up at exactly the same time every day, ate by the clock, knew what day to plant and what day to harvest and read from the Book of Proverbs before falling asleep.
You think your own apple isn't falling anywhere near your father's but the words that came out of my mouth sounded like I was channeling his spirit. I heard myself saying to my daughter, a banking job offers security but if you take it you cannot deviate from being straight for even a second. Every single thing you do has to line up with generally accepted accounting principles. You are entering a world where people end up in prison because they let down their guard and made one little exception to the guidelines and it snowballed into an avalanche. If you enter that world, you must be disciplined and focused enough to walk the narrow road every minute of every day.

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