About a decade ago I was interested in a 2nd citizenship. A lawyer I had retained came to me one day with news that the President of Poland would make me a citizen, immediately, if I was willing 'donate' $1M to the President's brother. The lawyer, whom I felt and still feel, was on the up and up, said he had arranged Polish citizenship for a few other clients.
At the time I was proudly naive, perhaps how Zim and rbit are today. I thought (1) as a successful business dude I ought to qualify for citizenship in a good EU country on personal merits alone and (2) any country where the President was so openly taking bribes, was, perhaps, not as good as the United States (with a song like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" after all).
Meanwhile, little did I know, the VP (and therefore CERTAINLY) the President of the USA was ALSO taking bribes in return for favors to foreigners. And, indeed, the requested $1M by the Polish Pres was actually chump change by "Land of the Free Home of the Brave" standards!
So, naively, or perhaps arrogantly, I declined. I often wonder how my life might have gone differently if I had only accepted the business deal?
Do I feel dumb in retrospect? Yeah. Sort of. But not nearly as bad, as I expect I would feel right now, if I had taken the "blue" pill and made a career in the Federal Government. Or, far worse, the "US military").
I'd be interested in hearing how those of you who did swallow more blue pills than I have managed to cope? What do you tell yourself to let yourself off the hook?
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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