“What is collected by wind, is spread by devil…”Thoughts on the plane…

(All time classic, 09.06.2008)

Yes, in this case, I am ALWAYS a liar. I can not say the opposite. But I also have my arguments, I think. If my plane flies on 07.50, I have to be at the airport at 06.50 at the latest, one hour before. If I share this with the taxi driver, he will arrive late to me (trying to get one more client meanwhile) and he will bring me to Eleftherios Venizelos airport (Athens's airport) at 07.00 – 07.10, telling me that "it is not a problem" and "people will understand". So, I always lie to them, presenting the hour as 30 minutes earlier than the real one. And guess what, they always bring me on time, never earlier…

"Do you have any (stupid) client?"
I was thinking about this while I was uploading my luggage in the taxi. Saturday, 06.00, I was leaving to Bucharest, after a 17 hours working programme on Friday. The discussion on the way to the airport was the usual one: The superexpensive gas, his opinion that 95% of people in Athens has a very hard life nowadays, the latest crime with a famous actor involved and the conspiracy theories about who killed him. Ah, and ofcourse (as always), he tried to ask me if I have any (stupid) client, who would be interested in buying something ultra super expensive on an island, but "at the best location there". (He is a good man, I forgive him…)

Typical "Romanian" and "Greek" delays…
In the airport the things were pretty normal. The usual (nowadays) majority of Romanian passengers (which keeps surprising me, when I remember that 3 years ago it was one Romanian passenger per 3… flights). Also a lovely old gentleman who was talking to me in a very "heavy" Romanian dialect. In the beginning I thought he really had a health problem, then I realized he just needed to talk to someone and I volunteered to be this one, being able to hear so many important things (I guess) . Then a delay of several minutes because of the usual Romanian sexy dressed lady (with perfect make up at this hour, as if she woke up at 04.00 to prepare or simply she didn't sleep at all) who can't finish shopping on time and the typical late Greek who was even arrogant with the airport's people. Routine…

The developer in Athens, London and… Venice!
I entered in the half empty plane and went directly to my seat. I… locked myself and I looked around. Just some ladies behind me, reading a… serious magazine, full of information, "Star". So, I was alone, me, myself and I… I was very tired but that moment I could not sleep. A discussion I had the previous day was still in my mind.

The gentleman with who I met on Friday (one of my meetings) is one of the top Greek developers of high end properties (for the ones who don't know, let us call "high end" properties the luxurious expensive homes). He is also active in London and… Venice (!), something that really impressed me. Without any vanity, he came to pick me up from my last meeting and drove me to his headquarters. If you would not pay attention to his face, you would say that he is an ordinary guy, dressed casually and driving a small car. But his eyes were the perfect description of what I call "shinning from intelligence".

Romanian rich people showing off as much as possible
We started talking for irrelevant things and soon our conversation reached the stories of some rich people. He was making fun of the situation in Romania, where the (presented as) rich ones appear every day in the media for 1.000.000 different reasons. I told him my strong belief that in this country (like in many others, Greece included) people misunderstand something: They have the impression that if someone has money, he is also intelligent and important. They close their eyes to the fact of HOW he created his fortune (or if he even worked at all for this) and they just stop in the figure of his bank account, or in the way of life he lives (and usually in Romania of 2008 people try to show off as much as possible, spending money like they feed the birds in the park, by throwing it right and left without thinking too much).

Inherited 3 billion dollars 20 years ago and now he lives at a grand floor apartment
So, a name dropping game started, involving some of the most famous rich Greeks, starting with the previous century. The result was quite impressive: "Take the super rich people of the past and their children. Almost 90% of them have lost their money in just few decades". Mythical Greeks, with endless rivers of money and properties all over the world inherited to their children a wealth which was impossible even to count. The result? 90% of the these children managed to lose the money so fast, that it really shocks. The most characteristic example: The son of one of the richest Greek tycoons, the child that the Prime minister was almost begging it to ask its father to grand him an audience for 1 minute… He inherited more or less 3 billion dollars just 20 years ago, but today he lives in a rented ground floor apartment at Switzerland, by the money of his father's friends …

Whom I respect
The conversation went on and on. And I kept bringing in my mind every detail of it, as I was in the plane, flying now over the Northern part of my country. I am almost tired to discuss every day with my Romanian friends regarding some persons' money, which do not impress me at all. I respect people for their mind and personality, regardless if they have money or not. I can also respect them if they succeeded to create a fortune, by working hard, or by having a clever idea, or by developing some special skills. No one has my respect just because he sold a land with millions (that he never paid for it, it was just inherited to him), or because his father gave him money, or because he appears as a front man of a big company. I am more interested in discovering his way of thinking, his approach for life, his values and his strategy for the future, what he can teach me maybe. His small or big bank account is not connected to his potential as person and to my respect.

"What is collected by wind, is spread by devil"
The ladies behind me kept on discussing, using many times the word "bogat". It was obvious they were talking for rich people. We landed quite smoothly and very soon we were in the bus, heading to the terminal. Next to me two Greeks were discussing for something and I heard one of them saying loudly an old Greek expression:

"What is collected by wind, is spread by devil". I remind these words to all my friends who are really fascinated by the money of some people (forgetting all the rest) and I am ready to bet on something: Take the list with the top 100 richest Romanians, as it is announced in the magazines. If after 10 years at least half of them will continue to have at least half of their announced money today, choose what you want me to lose. (But I forgot, usually in Romania the majority of the people live only for NOW, not even tomorrow. 10 years is like 10 lives after…)

PS. Good luck to Romania today, they play against France. All the best to Cristian Chivu and his teammates…

2010. These were my thoughts just two years ago. Nowadays, an increasing number of "considered rich" lose the battle and bankrupt or simply disappear. And we are just in the middle of this process…