The Magnate awoke the same way this morning as he did every morning, to the hint of roses in the air and listening to the opening strain of one of Doors’ sponsored History of Symphonic Song. This morning, it was Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. He strolled over to his desk, a high tech device that was in actuality a voice-activated, touch screen display, and punched in a secret code. This initiated the Doors Advanced Recognition Program. First, his fingerprint was checked against the database. He then was directed to verbally repeat the names of his top five employees – in order to match his vocal timbres. Finally, he leaned in for the retinal scan. Convinced that all was well, Duane Doors the Virtual Right Hand appeared in front of him, as a holographic image.
“Good morning, sir”, Duane said in his smooth British accent, “What would you like to check first?” The Magnate paused slightly, “Well, Duane, my 50th birthday celebration is in three weeks. That coincides with the 30 year anniversary of Doors. I was thinking that I would throw the most incredible soiree that anyone has ever attended, partly because Doors is the largest corporation in the world and due to the recent announcement that I top the World’s Wealthiest Billionaires List for the 15th year in a row.”
“Very well, sir. Would you like me to handle all the arrangements? I assume that you want me to utilize the myriad Doors Top 100 lists and invite actors, world leaders, businessmen, etc. And do I rightly assume that you wish to hold this party in Doors Freedom Stadium?” The Magnate nodded, “Yes, Duane, that would be fine. I trust your impeccable taste. Oh and one more thing,” he smirked slightly, “Invite the former president of every company that we took down on our way up. I want them to witness my moment of glory. You have free reign in negotiating the compensation necessary to ensure that my former competitors attend. By the way, please double check that the metal detectors are operational — we don’t want anyone attending that may be armed.”
Duane’s image chuckled and then disappeared. A moment later, his valet whisked in with his morning coffee and carefully prepared breakfast. The Magnate tapped another button on his desk and the Picasso mural directly in front of him turned into a 120-inch screen. His favorite viewing preprogrammed, he spent the next several hours catching up on business in the world of Doors.
A ship’s chime reminded him that it was 7:00 am and time to prepare for the day. He sent an instruction via keyboard to the pilot of the newest Lear jet in his fleet. He requested the jet be fueled and stocked with provisions to travel cross country to Washington, D.C. at 9:00 am. After receiving confirmation of his orders, the Magnate exercised, showered and dressed.
Looking immaculate in his $50,000 color-changing, stain and wrinkle free Italian suit, the Magnate admired his image in the mirror. Depending on his needs and at a moment’s notice, he could program the suit for a new color choice by voice command. Since he was usually informed 30 minutes in advance what his appointment was wearing anyway, he had only tested his suit once, during an emergency. It had met his expectations.
The Magnate loved his airplanes and endowed the Doors Air Museum with some great names from the past. He had donated over 50 airplanes, including a ‘Connie’, DC-3, B-52 and a Concorde. He was currently in negotiations to bring the Hughes Corporation Hercules or ‘Spruce Goose’ for viewing at the museum. He grumbled at the price of 100 million dollars, but in the end, he thought it was well worth the cost to add this prize to his collection.
As the pilot smoothly maneuvered the Lear into the air, the Magnate began to think of his humble beginnings. He was never really a great student. He usually studied just enough to get by. Things changed, however, when he was a sophomore in high school and seized the opportunity to learn the computer language, FORTRAN. He was so fascinated with the subject matter that he became a wizard in the mathematics and organizational skills needed to become a computer programmer. In college, with some help from friends, he laid the groundwork for the graphical computer program that he later named Doors. Now, the Doors Operating System was on 75% of the world’s computers and his company had developed over 3,000 applications, not only for computers but for every hand-held device as well.
Sure, there were a lot of bodies on the way to the top, but that is what capitalism is all about. Yes, about once a week, various periodicals described his company as ruthless and monopolistic and in the early years that had bothered him. He owed that, he figured, to his protestant Christian upbringing, but he had long ago learned to appease his conscience. After all, he permitted his programs to be copied from computer to computer without compensation. He had known full well, however, that the time would come when these so-called pirates would turn legal and become his largest programs and applications purchasing base.
Today, he was meeting with a congressional committee and later, having supper with the President. President Randolph was still using his major competitor’s operating system, but the Magnate had an offer that he felt Randolph would not refuse. Doors would provide every high school age child in America a laptop computer (programmed with Doors applications, of course) for free, if the President would convert his personal programs over to Doors. It wasn’t so much that the Magnate hated his competitors; in fact, he admired many of them, he simply did not take business personally. However, he ALWAYS strategically positioned himself to win!
As he finished his reminiscing, the Magnate began sweating profusely. He felt as if a tremendous weight was crushing his chest and pain shot through his left arm. Listening to the final strains of Smetana’s The Moldau playing in the background, he blacked out. The CPR-trained flight attendants rushed to his side.
The Magnate awoke in his bed, but there was no music or hint of roses in the air. He climbed out of bed, went to his desk, punched in his code and followed the other security procedures, but Duane did not present himself. The hologram that materialized in front of him was the purest white he had ever seen! “Where is Duane?” he asked. “Duane went on vacation and I am filling in for him. My name is Gabriel, but you can call me Gabe,” the vision said in a melodious voice. “By the way, I gave your staff a vacation as well. You and I will just have to make do for a week or so.”
The Magnate punched in some instructions on his keyboard, attempting to contact his private security detail and also the local police. However, he noticed that he was offline at the moment, and at best had only limited access to the internet. “O.k. Gabe, you cut my connection as well?” the Magnate huffed. Gabe smiled kindly, “Actually, I limited the connection to sites that I wish to show you. This is only for a week, I promise you. Besides, I am told that you haven’t had a vacation in 13 years. Call this a VIP vacation from The Man Upstairs, if you like.”
The Magnate furiously punched figures into his calculator. He figured this VIP vacation was going to cost him an amount that exceeded 12 zeroes. Reading his thoughts, Gabe said, “Stop complaining. You know full well that your company will run smoothly without you for one week. Anyway, you have no choice in the matter, as you will soon find out.”
Gabe instructed, “Punch in the address to family.com and check on your father.” The Magnate looked puzzled and asked, “What does my father have to do with anything?” Gabe replied, “You know full well. Even though you named your foundation after your parents, you haven’t spoken to your father in many years. What was the falling out over?” The Magnate looked a bit sheepish and confessed, “He wanted me to finish my education. As I’m sure sources have informed you, I dropped out of the university to finish the Doors program for World Office Computers. Then I became a millionaire and didn’t think I needed to finish school. I know my father is disappointed in my actions, but I showered him and my mother with expensive gifts, houses, trips and cars. However, I just haven’t spoken to him.”
“Punch in your father’s computer address. I want you to take a look at something,” Gabe directed. “Notice that I discreetly activated the camera and microphone. Now, watch and learn.”
The Magnate’s father was conversing with his wife, reminiscing about his estranged son. He described trips to the ballpark, early mornings spent fishing and vacations all over the United States. Tears welled up in his father’s eyes as he recounted the last 30 years. His father said, “I should be proud of my son and his accomplishments. The problem is that, in the process, he turned his back on everything that was truly important – his schooling, his parents and his faith. As a result, he hurt many people on his way to the top.”
Angrily, the Magnate punched a button, thereby breaking the connection. Ready to give Gabe a piece of his mind, he looked up and realized that Gabe had vanished. The Magnate’s chest, once again, began feeling very heavy and he staggered over to his bed and fell in. As he drifted off, he heard the last strains of The Moldau and found that comforting, but odd, since no music had been available that day.
The Magnate awoke refreshed in his normal surroundings. This morning, he thought he detected the slightest aroma of roses in the air and heard Debussy’s Clare de Lune. He chuckled to himself and thought he had simply awoken from a very bad dream. Upon arising, he actually felt excited to go to his desk. However, after his usual security check, Gabe once again appeared. The Magnate was very disappointed.
“Good morning and how are you feeling?” Gabe inquired. “Well, I felt wonderful until you showed up. I thought yesterday was just a bad dream,” was the Magnate’s retort. Gabe laughed blithely and said, “Well, I want you to type in this website address: sarahnottingham.com. What do you see?”
The Magnate saw 50 years of history unfold in front of his eyes. Sarah had never married, and even now was still a lovely woman. What really caused the Magnate to gasp were the five pages she had devoted to his climb up the ladder of success! “You turned your back on her too, because you thought that a marriage would interfere with your plans, or that a potential divorce would destroy all of your hard work,” Gabe scolded. “The truth is, Sarah would have brought you happiness, a family and joy that you have not known since you was a teenager. By the way, I took the liberty of inviting her to your upcoming birthday celebration.” The Magnate flew into a furious rage, “You did WHAT?!” As he turned to verbally rip Gabe apart, the spirit had once again vanished. Almost immediately, the room started spinning, the Magnate clutched his chest and barely made it back to his bed. Again, he thought he heard the last notes of The Moldau as he drifted off to sleep.
The third morning, the Magnate stayed in his bed longer than usual. Feeling tired, he reviewed the past several days. Finally, he dragged himself out of bed and padded over to his computer. He fervently hoped that, after security clearance, his old buddy Duane would appear. However, Gabe materialized once again. “Good morning, did you sleep well? Are you ready for today’s lesson?” Gabe asked. The Magnate snorted, “Well, honestly, I believe I have an appointment with a dentist for a root canal and an urologist for the special handshake.”
“You are quite the comedian! I see your sense of humor is in fine form. I’ll have to remember that one!” Gabe chortled. “Now, please go to the Riverdale University website. Review their sports pages during the years you attended. I see that you were quite the sportsman and even made team captain in more than one sport –impressive! That is, until you turned your back on them as well,” Gabe chided.
“I couldn’t continue to participate in all of the sports that I played and finish Doors for World Office Computers too,” the Magnate replied sadly. Gabe nodded and said, “Ah, so you turned your back on your friends and teammates when they needed you the most – probably cost one of the teams a national championship as the result.”
The Magnate began to speak, but when he looked up, Gabe had vanished once again. Left to his thoughts and conscience, the Magnate spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening pondering the events of the past three days. Finally, exhausted, he plodded back to bed and fell asleep once again to the lingering notes of The Moldau.
The morning of the fourth day was sunny and the Magnate was looking forward to chatting with his new mentor. When the angel finally appeared, the Magnate greeted Gabe warmly and apologized for his bad attitude over the past several days. Gabe thanked him for his apology and proceeded to the next lesson.
“Why do you need all the zeros behind the ’1′? Your net worth is more than the annual gross national product of many countries,” Gabe observed. “Well, for me, it was never about the number of zeros. It was always about winning, being on top, confessed the Magnate.
“During the time that you participated in sports, did you ever learn the importance of losing? Think about all the pressure you have placed on yourself, simply to win. Your VIP vacation wasn’t arranged on a whim. You suffered a minor heart attack as a direct result of your need to win, win, win at any cost,” Gabe pointed out sorrowfully. “And in your quest to win, you destroyed many entrepreneurs who wished only to care for their families and show the world that they had great ideas as well.” Then, Gabe quietly vanished again.
As the Magnate slumped in his chair with his head bowed, he watched the screen as pictures of the familiar faces of his competitors flashed across. This time, it displayed them with their family members. He realized that the lives that were destroyed went well beyond his competitors and affected their families – and even communities. Tears welled in his eyes. After watching the photo gallery for hours, he finally walked over to his bed and fell asleep. For the fourth day in a row, the sound of The Moldau softly played in his mind as he drifted off.
The morning of the fifth day arrived. The Magnate stayed in bed for several hours, reviewing the important lessons of the past four days. He finally arose from bed and humbly went to his computer desk. Gabe appeared a fifth time.
“Good morning!” Gabe cheerfully greeted him, “I read your mind and looked into your heart while you were resting. I transferred several million dollars into your competitors’ bank accounts each. I’m referring to the ones that you steamrolled on your way up the ladder. I also transferred 10,000 shares of stock into each of their names. The stock certificates will be ready for your birthday celebration in several weeks. I will personally guarantee that all of your competitors – past and present – will be attending.”
“You can really do that, Gabe?” the Magnate asked humbly.
“Have you not figured out who I am yet?” Gabe asked, “I am Gabriel, one of God’s archangels. For many years, you have turned your back on God as well, haven’t you? However, God never turned away from you. He wants you to start making a positive difference in other people’s lives. But first, you must ask for His forgiveness and sincerely promise that you will no longer live just for yourself.”
Gabriel disappeared and this time, the computer screen flashed images of the Magnate when he was a child and then a teenager attending church. After watching the images and reliving those innocent moments of his upbringing, the weeping man quietly knelt at the foot of his bed and asked for God’s forgiveness. Drained from the rigors of his VIP vacation, the Magnate slept soundly and heard the soothing notes of The Moldau for the final time.
On the morning of the sixth day, the Magnate awoke in strange surroundings. He realized he was in the cardiac care unit of the hospital. He had indeed suffered a mild heart attack. The doctor informed him that he was extremely fortunate that the attack had done little damage. The Magnate left the hospital a week later, deemed quite healthy by the medical staff, but definitely not the same man that had arrived two weeks before.
People immediately began to take notice of the changes in the Magnate. The very day he left the hospital, he contacted his main competitor and asked his forgiveness for the many years of backstabbing and lies perpetrated against him and his company. The Magnate also invited him to his upcoming birthday celebration and suggested that they meet over dinner and discuss some proposals for future joint projects.
The Magnate’s 50th birthday celebration, which originally had been planned to be a major gloat-fest, turned out to be his crowning achievement. As Gabriel predicted, all invited guests attended, the competitors received their compensation – including stock certificates. The Magnate’s humility stunned his guests. He was given a standing ovation for his good works. Perhaps the most important attendee that evening was Sarah Nottingham. He humbly re-introduced himself and she shyly responded. Months later, after a brief courtship, the Magnate and Sarah married and, as the years passed, they adopted 12 children.
For the rest of his life, the Magnate displayed a rare example of true leadership and incredible corporate integrity. He and his corporation, Doors, worked freely with competitors and other companies, mentored young entrepreneurs and became a shining example and huge proponent for environmental stewardship. He was genuinely admired and loved by all.
When the Magnate passed away at the ripe old age of 103, he was mourned by many around the world. In the Magnate’s Last Will and Testament, he donated most of his personal fortune to charity and ensured that his company, Doors, would continue to follow the directions given him by Gabriel.
At the moment of his passing, Gabriel was on hand to escort the Magnate to his new home in heaven. It was rumored that the first words that the Magnate heard were, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”
Anthony Cota
A Hero or Goat?
April 30, 2012I traveled four hours south of Ensenada to San Quintin, Mexico on Friday. I was helping a friend decide how to take his resort that is on San Quintin Bay to the next level.
First, we came upon an accident with a Ford Ranger 4×4 laying on its side. We watched as about 16 people set it up on its wheels again — and then the owner got in and drove it away, lol.
Then, down at my friend’s resort, I noticed he had an ant problem in his kitchen (this is the off season). So anyway, I took away all the spices and found the culprit — an old and open bottle of Log Cabin syrup. The inside of the bottle looked like the convention’s main venue! Anyway, I threw away the bottle, and being a kindhearted soul, gave the ants time to disperse. Well, several hours later they were still around. These must have been the addicted ants. I shot then with Ortho ant spray. After the mass murder, I cleaned the area up. Not one hour later, they were back in force. Thinking instead that these were really religious zealots, I nailed them again, and then cleaned up the mess. To make a long story short, they stopped coming after the third shot. I finally figured out that this group of ants were neither addicts or zealots — but were their politicians trying to decide who would rule for the next four years. Concerned that I had turned their tightly-knitted society upside down, I put a cup to the floor nearest where they were coming in to see what they were saying. The ants were cheering! I felt better after that……….
Anthony Cota
(4/30/2012)
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