Integral to the livelihood and well-being of EnlightenNext UK is our trading arm The Window, an events venue service. This business supports EnlightenNext, which is a UK charity and enables us to provide our events at low cost. My partner Kyrsten Perry and her staff run The Window with great professionalism and creative entrepreneurship. As part of her outreach to the Islington community where our Centre is located, Kyrsten has established a relationship with a local college who send their 17-year-olds for work experience to us. The principal of the college wants to help raise the expectations of those kids who often come from difficult backgrounds. He deliberately sends them to our charity because of the values we hold and so that they can experience a workplace environment in which people are actually happy working.

Recently a job became available at our premises and we let the college know that their students would have preference. One of the lecturers was visiting our place shortly afterwards and he related a conversation he had had with a student who was looking for work. The lecturer told the youth about the job opportunity and this young man had spent a day of work experience at our place in the past.

“So, are you going to go for an interview, since they are likely to give you a job?” he asked.

“No,” said the young guy “I don’t want to work there. People are too happy.”

The lecturer was shocked and dismayed as he cares deeply about advancing his students, and it was sad for him to hear this.

This story really makes me think: how is it that a 17-year-od in London with all of his life ahead of him doesn’t even want to be happy? It’s a puzzling phenomenon and one of several incidents I’ve become across lately that make me ponder on the current culture of our country.