I
have a theory that you become the age of the kids you teach. Not completely, of
course, but in some very clear identifiable way. So when I was teaching 13-year-olds, for
instance, I’d find myself feeling moody and mopey for no particular reason. And now that I’m spending a lot of time with 8
and 9-year-olds, I often hear myself scream: “It’s not fair.”
And seriously, it’s not fair!
I’m talking about the $1.5 million
book deal that Greg Smith just signed.
Who, might you ask, is Greg Smith and
why should you care?
Greg is the investment banker who
left Goldman Sachs and wrote a piece for the New York Times about Goldman’s
disdain for its clients. As it turns out, Greg and I have a great deal in
common. Minus, of course, one $1.5 million book deal.
Greg spent the past 12 years working
for one employer. I’ve also spent the
past 12 years working for one employer.
He wrote one piece for the Times. I’ve written more than one piece for the Times
(a few years ago, but you can google them if you want), and I’ve written a
couple of dozen posts for this blog.
Greg won a bronze medal for table
tennis at the Maccabiah Games. I used to
be pretty good at table tennis, and if the table in our basement wasn’t sagging
in the middle (and I didn’t wear progressive lenses), I’m sure I could still
score a few points against any teenager on my block.
Okay, I’m not really in 3rd
grade, so I’m not blind to the differences between Greg and me: Greg not only
worked for Goldman Sachs, he is promising to write a kiss-and-tell memoir about the firm; I, on
the other hand, have been working at a Jewish day school for which I have
tremendous affection and regard, and for the right price, I'd be happy to write a kiss-and-kiss memoir.
So fair is fair. I’ll take less than $1.5 million.
Let the bidding wars begin!