well, old Paul's gone...:(

Paul Newman once said “I picture my epitaph: "Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown".”

He was true and honest, impossibly modest, and a fantastic philanthropist with the kindest soul.

How fortunate we all are for his time here with us.

By the way, Newman was my father's age. I'm not sure what that means to me other than that I feel most fortunate because I've seen a lot of men who were born that year, 1925, (tending to notice when they die and the news mentions it) who are of such similar character.

No question about it, there is something people have in common that affects them in major ways when born in the same year. The events going on at the time then and as we grow up have great impact on shaping who we become.

It makes me wonder about those being born and raised as young children right now with so much going on. So far, I've seen the young children today being mature and wise beyond their years, in contrast to those just before them. We had a time of unbelievable and unsustainable greed followed by an awakening that has been taking place for a while now and only recently peaked in recent days/weeks. The awakening though, seems to be having a very positive effect on the children. In 1925 we were just peaking out, "the Roaring 20's" and then those kids went through a sudden awakening at 4 years of age when the Great Depression hit. Perhaps that had something to do with Newman's choice to become such a great philanthropist. I've seen my father forgive more debts from struggling little businesses than you can shake a stick at. I used to go around with him when I was a kid to visit his clients from the poorer inner city areas on out to the poorer very rural areas because he was an accountant (retired now) who did not have much time to be with his kids during "tax season" (about 3 full months every year) so he'd ask who wanted to go for a ride for the day and I was the one of my two brothers and myself who always jumped at the chance. Later on, as a young adult I got to know some of these clients even better personally and they'd all tell me what a generous person my father is for letting them pay over time when their business wasn't doing so well. As a result, many of them hung in there and did much better and kept on going and are still going strong today.

It is my hope that the kids growing up will get the same positive boost those kids back then seemed to get: by learning what it is to be without, by learning how to appreciate what you have, by learning about putting aside what you want now for what you need later, and by learning kindness towards others since we are all in the same boat.

Paul Newman's death struck me that way. It isn't the first time. There have been, as I said, a number before him also from 1925 with the same fine qualities. They should be the rule and not the exception. I wish they could come from good times (not greedy times) not only from the more difficult times. At least something good comes out of the bad.

My favorite movie was "Hud".
Paul was a gentleman all the way. He and Joanne were definitely role models of great marriage.