Interview-Brian (Balthasar)

Article by: Eric

Brian, a fun loving unpresuming guy, and I met on a small corner café during an evening displaying one of the most beautiful sunsets ever. He wasn’t dressed to display his status; he was just being himself and who he wanted to be, not who someone else said he was.


When Brian told his friend Roger, 15 at the time, that his girlfriend Julie he had no idea of the consequences his actions were going to bring. When Brian then found out that Roger had gone on to kill himself Brian was extremely distraught and resolved to always make an effort to brighten peoples days. Today his positive attitude is noticeable as soon as you see him. This kind of attitude is what is needed in today’s high stress, high pace society.

Last week while visiting one of his non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of the impoverished I witnessed something truly spectacular. One of the financial advisors approached Brian with some numbers that didn’t add up. Brian, none the wiser, asked if that could be repeated without all the jargon, as polite as two British women from the eighteenth century. The advisor said basically that they didn’t have the money to continue much longer. As you can imagine this is devastating news, especially for someone who makes it his business to help people. But Brian just took it in stride replying: “Alright, we’ll set up a meeting for tomorrow and brainstorm ways to raise money.”

Brian was born into the wealth of the Montague’s, but he has never let that status get to his head. Even as a child he would wear as normal clothes as his parents would allow. As a teen he went through a short depression following Roger’s death though that eventually led to his current positive mind set. His explanation of this renovation in mind set was that he just wanted the world to be full of people who are basically good. “A good way of doing that is to help them. Whether it’s through an organization or just stopping to help someone bring in their groceries it really doesn’t matter.”

When asked what he hopes to accomplish in the future he took his good time formulating an accurate response. He finally answered: “To help everyone have as much fun in life as I do.” That is the deepest quote I have heard since Albert Camus. That sums up what he’s doing now in my opinion. But when he heard this his face got visibly darker, and he started rattling off lots of statistics about poverty in Australia. His goal is to decrease the unemployment rate from 4.3% to 3%. “But it’s not just about creating jobs. It’s about getting people jobs that they will enjoy. The key is to make sure that they are having fun.”