If ya want luck, ya gotta THINK luck!

This is what one of the most amazing people I've ever had the pleasure to know said to me today. His name is Paul. He is 94 years old, born in 1915 in Maryville (pronounced Mareville), TN, outside of Knoxville. I've been doing his taxes now for over 15 years. I just love this man!

Paul is one of the smartest men I've ever met! The youngest of NINE children, he was born in poverty. He remembers the bread lines from the Great Depression and he remembers how very, very difficult life was back then. His parents both worked for the sawmill in Alcoa.

Amazing that Paul grew up near Alcoa, because this man, who was born in poverty, grew up to be one of the Vice-Presidents of Reynolds Metals, which was taken over by Alcoa. During his career, he was sent to become the President of one of Reynolds Metals subsidiaries which was losing a lot of money, with the instructions to either "get it to turn around or liquidate it!" Well, within two years, this subsidiary was in the black! And this was after the IRS came in two months after Paul took over with criminal charges against the former officers and a fine of more than half a million dollars!

After that success, Paul was sent to the Middle East, where he said that he was privliged to call Anwar Sadat (former President of Egypt, who was assassinated) as a personal friend. He's been to the palaces in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait....met with the leaders...dined with them, laughed with them....was a WONDERFUL representative for America because they ALL liked him and talked with him about many personal things. When Paul arrived in Egypt, it was mostly an ally with Russia mainly because we would not let them have money to build. With efforts from Paul, and the friendship that he forged with Sadat, things began to turn around.

He said that he also liked King Hussein of Jordan. They went for a ride one day, and the King was thanking him for his efforts. They came to a bridge, and the King handed Paul a pair of binoculars and said, "I want to show you something." From the bridge's vantage point, Paul could see the barrels of the Israeli guns pointed at him. He said that really gave him a weird feeling, because Paul was friends with the Israelis as well.

Paul gives most of the credit for his amazing successes for his attitude! He said that whenever he was down, he would just "think" himself up.....and keep on trying! He said that he also learned to try and never harbor hatred or resentment, because those emotions just get one down. He said that if someone hurt him, he would let that person know, and if the person apologized, that they would then talk, and most of the time the resentment that he was feeling toward that person would go away. He said that he learned to look upon ALL people as children of God, and that he had to remember that God loved the person who was mean to him or hurt him as much as he loved HIM! Paul said that always put a different perspective on how he viewed the world.

I told him the mantra that I had come up with recently (more about that in another post) and he thought that it was WONDERFUL!!!! He said, "YES...you have learned the secret!"

When I first met Paul, I was scared to death....he was such an influential, prominent person and I had no idea why he had asked ME to do his taxes. But he liked me immediately...but was also a shrewd businessman. He told me that after I had done his taxes, he had one of the most prominent tax attorneys in the city review them (I'm glad that I didn't know that or I would've fainted), and that the tax attorney gave me flying colors...said he couldn't have done a better job himself. And then the second year I knew him, I had to represent him before the IRS in a very comprehensive audit.....and we passed that one too. WHEW!!!!

Paul has always loved putting down a helping hand to reach out to help others succeed. He has helped so many people! I never, ever get tired of hearing his stories! Can you see why I just LOVE this man!!!