A Million Pounds

"What would you do if you won a million pounds?" I asked the young
man waiting alongside me on the busy platform. He was reading a
newspaper, and so I hoped that I wasn't disturbing him, but I simply
couldn't help myself. I had asked many strangers the very same question
over the last few weeks, and I had witnessed plenty of surprised faces,
but this time it was I who was shocked, by his answer.

"Oh, I would work so hard" he replied quite calmly.

So far, 84\% had said immediately that they would give up work
(although I attribute much of this to the fact that I mainly ask people
on my way to work and this is a commuter haven due to its high speed
trains to the centre of the business district - the most stressed out
area of town.) but there was something about this boys manner, and his
almost invisible smile to himself that made me believe his answer. My
confusion, and his gazing off in the distance led to an awkward
silence. After what in reality must have been about a minute, but felt
like an eternity, he turned back to his neglected newspaper and I
glanced at my watch, twitched my feet and took on the persona of an
impatient commuter.

I wanted so much to interrogate him further. To find out what he meant
by "work so hard." Was he joking? Was he being sarcastic? Pulling my
leg? Does he love his job so much that he could really mean it? If so -
what is this job he is doing? I could wait no further and turned to him
again.

"I'm sorry," I nervously asked "Most people that I have asked, tell me
how they long to stop working, and yet you say that you would work
harder. What is it that you do that makes you so happy? Why do you not
want to stop working?"

Slowly, the young man turned to face me. He paused for a moment, as if
to gather his thoughts and then said simply, as if it were the only
logical thing to say "But if I didn't work anymore, surely I would be
broken."