Remember how I said that sometimes I am looking and sometimes I am not looking for a job. Well, yesterday was one of those days when I went looking for one. I had a job interview, which I am not sure I want after all. But then again I do not know if the guy would actually hire me after openly admitting that I was a registered democrat, and worst of all that I was an intern for the Howard Dean presidential campaign (the problem here was that he was a registered republican).

The interview was typical, why should we hire you, what are your strongest assets, what are your weaknesses, what are your salary requirements, and so on. What wasn’t usual, and very random was the one hour conversation after the interview. The guy was sharp. He understood me. He quickly became aware of my confusion, and all of my apprehensions for my future. So he said to me: you never know what God’s plans are for you! And then he began to tell me his life story how he had always had an aptitude for science and math, how his dad and grandfather had been doctors and he was expected to do be one as well. He never got into a medical school, but he did get admittance to a law school, so he became a lawyer even thought he hated reading and writing. I guess he told me all this in a unobtrusive manner, so he could pass the message: don’t worry!

We then spoke about American attitudes when traveling abroad, we spoke about Paris, we spoke about Mexico, we spoke about politics, Iraq, Bush, Condalisa Rice, and Bill Nelson. At the end of the day I didn’t know what to make of this all. I don’t think the guy will hire me but I might get a call from him sometimes to go out to lunch and talk…

I don’t know what it is about me but somehow I must be a good listener, and especially for the people that I work for. My former boss came to speak to me about his love life. He spoke to me about his troubles with his mom, her over-protectiveness and need for control, and the blind dates that she set up for him with the daughter’s of her Greek friends. He spoke to me about his future business plans, and his growing troubles with his business partner. I always listened, and then game him me two cents on the issue. Sometimes I got so tired of his complaining, his desperation, and I couldn’t imagine how a successful attorney could be so lonely and distressed. One day after he heard me speaking to G on the phone, he confessed to me that “in a good way, he was envious of what we had”. And I looked at him first not knowing what to say, pleased by his revelation but also feeling bitter for him, and then I said: “I’m sure that something like what G and I have is waiting for you somewhere”. Money was not a worry for this guy, he had friends, he had family, but what he was hungry for was to love and be loved. So when The Beatles tell you that “all you need is loves”, listen to them, they are right.