{"id":200633,"date":"2017-09-21T07:02:26","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T05:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/weekend-refection-love-is-not-completely-blind\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T18:51:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T16:51:24","slug":"weekend-refection-love-is-not-completely-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/weekend-refection-love-is-not-completely-blind\/","title":{"rendered":"WEEKEND REFECTION: Love is not completely blind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past few weeks were super exciting, informative and frustrating.
\nAs you know by now (or not), I launched my very first digital product, namely eBook 52<\/em> and digiMagazine<\/em> (click here<\/a> for more information). At the same time, I visited Tomas, one of my former interns and operational managers, in the city he grew up in: Vilnius in Lithuania. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The eBook and digiMagazine were my first attempt at selling a digital product online, which made the process slow at times and very painful. But the good news is that any new process is just like riding a bicycle: once you have mastered the \u201cbalance thing\u201d, you can start riding along instead of falling along.<\/p>\n

I am especially proud of the action I took to take the products from concept to sales. This is here that I\u2019s like to remind you that the process and new experiences are the most valuable \u2013 whatever your sales. It is only by dirtying your hands that you truly learn something. The rest simply is your opinion (which, unfortunately, doesn\u2019t count for less).<\/p>\n

Back to Lithuania. I really wanted to see and learn more of his city, its people and, very important, his new gymnasium where he focuses on functional exercising; in other words, true muscle power and freedom of movement without injuring yourself.<\/p>\n

Lithuania is to me a pleasing place, but also a place of extremes. In the city you get dynamic, hard-working people at a bargain: The minimum wage is \u20ac360 per month (about R5 735), against R21 550 per month in England, while a good corporate salary amounts to about R28 000 per month. Everyone is friendly and most people speak a good English. They offer the fastest broadband services in Europe, of course, and, on the other side of the spectrum, many a Catholic Church (only in the one city). I wonder what the Vatican\u2019s electricity bill is like?<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you also get the cowboys. These men drink a lot, drive like Italians (and that is not a compliment) and in smaller towns the roadside toilets are\u2026 wait for it\u2026 longdrops!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But there was something that Tomas had said that stays with me: The greatest criticism against the Lithuanians come from the Lithuanians themselves. As a matter of fact, there is a joke doing the rounds that, should Russia ever invade their country (which it can do in 23 hours), thousands of Lithuanians will join the Russians to fight against their own country.<\/p>\n

This reminds me of Afrikaners who so easily criticise and draw down their own people. Or the old story of\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 cannot stick together\u201d. But you know, it is truly not a foreign or uniquely South African phenomenon.<\/p>\n

I believe that people are sometimes the hardest on people that they love the most\u2026 Love is not completely blind.<\/p>\n