Why do you want WHAT YOU WANT?
When I was at school, if you got seven A’s in matric, your future immediately became very narrow: doctor, engineer, actuary, lawyer – pick one. And they all did. Happily, for the rest of us the choice was much wider. But when the girl who got the highest marks in the country in my year was interviewed on TV and the question came up about what career she would pursue, she said, ‘I’m going to be a hairdresser.’ I wanted to cheer – she was the first person I had ever seen deviate from the accepted doctor, engineer, actuary, lawyer route. Last I heard, she was a successful film director in Berlin… but she absolutely went ahead and became a hairdresser first. I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed by anyone in my life, and I’m sure Luke Burgis would feel the same.
His fascinating book is based on work produced by René Girard, a French professor of literature, but we don’t instinctively know what we . So we imitate what other people seem to want.
