A Greek man walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer.He told the loan officer that he was going to Greece on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Greek man handed over the keys to his new Ferrari.The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Greek man produced the title and everything checked out.The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest.
Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Greek man for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parked it.Two weeks later, the Greek man returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07 in full.The loan officer said,"Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a millionaire.What puzzles us is why would you bother to borrow $5,000 when you are a millionaire?"
The Greek man replied, "Well, think about it...where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?"To start the weekend with humour - Thanks Petros S, Australia! Go the Greeks... OPA!!!
Photo source: Unknown -Thanks to Veatriki P (Greece) for passing it on
Same Question...Different Era!
A rather funny but sad commentary on the state of the Education system in Greece! (Thanks Eleni M, Greece)Our question is, is it universally applicable and why has it got to this point?
From what one of our Global Greeks, Greek American Dr Alex Pattakos wrote in his latest Huffington Post article, titled No Person Left Behind, in which he discusses Health System Reform and Education Reform in the USA, it appears that what we call the abdication of responsibility of students/parents which is illustrated by the cartoon above, is indeed universally applicable and needs to change drastically if things are to improve.
Dr Pattakos wrote:
...the aims of education can never be achieved without personal responsibility on the parts of students/learners, parents, teachers, and other involved stakeholders, in addition to the collective responsibility of families, local/state jurisdictions, and other levels of community and society...
and went on to say
...In the education arena, a "teach me," ignorance, entitlement model has less chance of observable or sustainable success without a measurable dose of responsibility by those seeking access to and services from the "system."...concluding that...The education process, in the final analysis, is a two-way street. Minus some kind of brain implant like those depicted in science fiction, which is probably something that we would not want to see become reality, the true benefits of education derive as the "return on investment" that is made in yourself and in your future. And this kind of "ROI" can only occur when you become fully engaged and demonstrate that you are responsible for the investment.We agree 100%! Why is it that the existing education system seems to destroy all drive, initiative and passion for learning? Is the ever-increasing pressure on students such that they no longer 'enjoy' the engagement that Dr Pattakos refers to?
What is to blame?
In Greece, which is how this post started, we have the phenomenon of those who go abroad excelling in their chosen fields...it can't be by chance that there are so many notable Greeks in fields like medicine, science and finance outside Greece, a lot of whom have come through the Greek education system but have gone to the top of their field once they went abroad! Despite that, and here is the irony, when some of these very same top-of-their-field experts try to get back into the system and give back some of their knowledge and experience to their homeland, the 'system' chews them up and spits them out! Dr George Papanicolaou, the creator of the lifesaving Pap test was one of these experts who came back to Greece with knowledge to share and determination to turn his vision to reality but ended up going back to the USA! Why does this happen?
Tell us what you think...
Dr Alex Pattakos is, as we said above, one of our Global Greeks and we have had a link to his very interesting article on the 25th Anniversary in our sidebar since the day we started this blog, because of it's relevance to all of us. A professor of public policy and management, a mental health therapist, the author of several books, a columnist with The Hellenic Herald and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Alex is known Dr Meaning in the USA. We will tell you more about him and his very valuable work in a later post. Stay tuned!
