Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A conversation

A conversation among 4 young men, probably around 20 years old, with clean-cut short hair, wearing shirts and ties - overheard at a hamburger joint in Wan-chai:

“Is this table occupied? Can we take it then? Thank you so very much.”
...
“The Central Park was really beautiful. I was impressed that they have such a nice park right in the middle of New York City.”
“Where did you stay in New York City?”
“A youth hostel up near Columbia University.”
“That’s right where Harlem is. I was there before. It was full of black people. Very scary.”
“Chicago is the place in the USA where there is the largest number of blacks.”
“Yeah. There were a lot of black people. But it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t find that scary at all.”
“I purposely stayed overnight in a bus station once, while I was travelling through the USA, just to see what it is like. It was a good experience.”
...
“I want to teach in a community college, or vocational school. It will be a good experience for me, while I finish university.”
“I want to get into investment banking.”
“That should not be difficult.”
“It is not enough to have a bachelor’s degree. I want to get a master’s degree.”
“I don’t want to take up a full time job. I want to take on different tasks, to gain a lot of experience in a variety of things.”
“I am afraid it may not look so good on my resume, if I start with freelance jobs right after graduation.”
“I cannot totally disregard making some money, because I have grant-loans to repay. But I think it is important to gain a lot of experience in a variety of areas.”
...
“If I were the Chief Executive, I would ...”
...

I don’t know these young men, and I don’t even know what they look like. But they made quite a good impression on me.




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