How to Inherit a Fortune: Appreciate the Masterpieces Right in Front of You
Day 30 of 80 Days of Excellence
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
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They thought the painting was worthless. No one liked it. So, it had been sitting in Mom’s basement for years. Ned, Roger and Steven Landau thought the painting was creepy but decided not to sell it at the garage sale because they thought it might be worth a few hundred dollars.
So, they decided to hold an auction in 2015 for this and a few other belongings. The auctioneer started the bidding at $250. However, when the bidding started escalating by hundreds of thousands of dollars, the auctioneer realized that there must be something he didn’t know about the painting. Finally, a Frenchman bought the picture for $1.1 million. (That he later sold for $4 million.)
The painting was a lost Rembrandt, “Unconcious Patient (Allegory of Smell)” where two men are attempting to revive a woman with smelling salts. Rembrandt was just a teenager in the mid-1620’s when he decided to do a series of allegories on the five senses. This “weird” painting was one of those five and was a lost masterpiece.*
Recognizing the Masterpiece
Masterpieces walk among us each day. Every single one of them is unique, utterly astounding in composition and ability. Unfortunately, we treat these living masterpieces like some weird painting in Mom’s basement that we should discard.
The most excellent people among us recognize the masterpiece.
Some of the most significant moments of my life are when I have been allowed to recognize a person’s unique talent and bring it to the forefront. And then, somehow, the onlookers realized there must be something of great worth they don’t know about that person.
Once someone notices and appreciates a person’s value, that person’s worth escalates in the eyes of everyone – particularly their own.
People begin to appreciate that person like never before.
If you want to be excellent, stop trying to impress others. Let them impress you.
Do things to make others feel important and recognize their worth.
If you’re going to make fun of someone, make fun of yourself.
Begin to recognize the masterpiece of each living, breathing portrait of humanity in your life.
You might just inherit a fortune.
Sources
*Strange Inheritance – Lost Rembrandt found in New Jerse strange inheritance
* New Jersey family surprised to sell creepy, long-lost Rembrandt painting.
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