The Baron

Last night I was on a double-date. One of my friend's friend - Michelle, a banker - had to take out a big name oil baron from Saudi Arabia and show him around HK to woo him for his business. As a result, Michelle contacted my friend Leslie and in turn, Leslie asked me to be her date for the evening.

We dined at Armani/Aqua in Central and had the most expensive sushi platters imaginable. We then drank at a terrance bar overlooking Wan Chai and Soho and lastly, we were brought to the Ritz-Carleton where we capped off the night with more shots and discussions on the baron's personal life (he claims he's a good friend of George Clooney). Even though Michelle was the one suppose to be wooing him, the driver, food, and drinks were all on the baron's tab.

It's not every day that someone meets a person who truly means when he says "money is no object to me" - his oil company is worth over $700 billion USD and employs over 55, 000 workers. The stories he was telling us, the people he has met, his upbringing and lifestyle did signal a clear distinction from mine's and his existence - I will never in my life experience the wealth that he was born into. At the same time though, we talked about common every-man topics such as heart break and lost love and honestly - which man poor or rich, has not experienced the burning pain of unrequited love or the regret/guilt of past actions? It was on that topic that money, wealth, etc. all flew out the window and what was left were two men - him and I - discussing facets of our lives that connected the proletariat and the baron.

One of the last lines that we said together was the piece by Shylock from the Merchant of Venice when he said, "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?" Parlayed in that discussion was a genuine man with an authentic heart that was born into this wealth. In the same way that men and women are both into poverty and wretched straits, the baron got the lucky end and has simply assumed the role and privilege of his existence.

Who I met last night was a man, a man like any other man who has felt the lows of relationships and has experienced the very limits of human wealth. Like the nameless millions of people who I have encountered in my life thus far, he too, the baron will remain nameless because he is just that - a man like any other man.