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ray,
picking yourself up after a fall
I have
always been impressed with people who, after hard times,
pull themselves up and continue on with life. for
me, this attribute does not define a "great
person" - it is what a great person is, it is part
of their dna. ray is that kind of person.
you see, ray was a rich man - a very rich man, with a
deep passion for art. ray was a big time collector
- his collection was vast, and growing. ray had it
all - all but a son to share his passion. well,
that would soon change. ray met, and fell in love
with a wonderful women. as time went on, they had
a wonderful son. but rays joy soon turned to pain,
when his wife was killed in an automobile accident.
ray spent a great deal of time mourning, but his son
soon took up most of his time and he had no time to
grieve.
ray and his
son grew close, very close. ray's son shared with
him his passion for art. they would travel the
world collecting major works of art form all over.
money was no object, and time was on their side.
as rays son grew he went off to college, and studied art
- his father was proud, very proud the day he received
his degree. ray and his son soon found themselves
planning to build a large museum for all the art they
had collected. then, as they planned, rays son
received a notice in the mail - he was drafted.
ray wanted to use his power and money to get him out of
it, but his son would not have it. he told his
father all would be right, and off he went to europe.
while in
europe rays son was impressed with all the art; he was
painting of the master. he wrote his father and
told him, after the war they needed to return and buy
art. his father wrote back, saying he wanted to do
that very much. one day, while ray was sitting
reading the morning paper, a knock came upon the door.
when ray answered the door, he was two army offers.
they gave ray a letter. in the letter were the
words, "we regret to inform you at the passing of
your son." ray took the letter, and hung his
head in deep pain. the offices helped ray back to
his paper. they stayed with him for a while and
told him how his son died.
his son was
a medic. he had taken the position that all life
was worth saving, all life. he did whatever he
could to insure the safety of those in his platoon.
one rainy day, as the battle around grew and grew, he
noticed that one of his platoon, a new recruit, was
trapped and bleeding. he took his sack and ran to
his aid. when he got their the enemy tossed a hand
grenade. when he saw the grenade, he through
himself upon it. when it went off, it killed him,
but saved the life of the new recruit.
the pain of
loosing his son was not put to rest with finding out how
his son died. but time would heal the wound.
over time ray picked up the desire to collect art.
one day, while getting ready for his first trip to
europe, a knock came upon his front door. when he
opened the door he noticed a young man standing there
with a large covered painting. the man told ray
that he was the recruit his son saved during the war.
he told ray that his son would spend hours talking about
his father and all the fun he had collecting art.
they young man told ray that while he was no great
artist, he did paint a picture of his son and he wanted
ray to have it as a way of saying thank you. when
the young man opened the picture ray knew the young man
was honest, the picture was bad, very bad. ray
invited the young man to stay for dinner. after
dinner, ray hung the picture on the wall over the
fireplace, so all could see.
over time,
ray had become the largest collector of art known.
he had spent millions on all different forms of art.
soon the art world know of him, and his wonderful
collect. but time passes, and we all get old, and
so did ray. soon, ray died, leaving behind one of
the greatest collections ever. in his will he gave
strict instruction as to the disposal of his vast
fortune. one year after his death, there was to be
an auction of all his collection.
the year
was spent cataloging the collection into three large
volumes. lawyers spent months getting everything
in the ready. ray's instructions were to be
followed to the letter - without exception. the
volumes were released to the public six months before
the auction and those in the world of art collecting
were waiting with great expectations for the day of the
auction.
when the
day came, the auction hall was filled with collectors
all wanting to get their hands on this vast and
expensive collection. the total worth of the
collection has been estimated to be over five billion
dollars. when the auction started, the place was
packed. the first painting to be auctioned off was
that of the son pained many years ago by the young man
from the war. when the painting was introduced
everyone laughed. no one wanted to bid for the
painting. shouts of "garbage," "not
worth a penny," and many others. then, from
the back of the auction, a man stood and asked if he
could bid on the picture, everyone laughed. the
man said that he was the artist of the painting, and
that it held great value for him. if no one else
wanted it, he would like to bid - but all he had was
fifty dollars. with that the auctioneer asked if
there was another bid, no one spoke or moved -
"going once, going twice, sold to the man in the
back for fifty dollars." with that everyone
waited for the auction to start. just before the
auctioneer was to start, a lawyer stood before the crowd
and said, "the auction is over. there is
nothing left to auction." several of the
richer men in the crowd were very upset and demanded to
know why the auction was closed. with that the
lawyer read from ray's will.
"when
I die all I have shall be auctioned. but the
auction will be based on this - who ever buys the
picture of my son, will become the rightful owner of all
I have. because who ever loves my son that much
deserves all I have."
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