Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Known But Unknown

 

Athanasios graduated from high school two years early, having been advanced twice in his middle school and high school years. His mind was an inescapable trap that retained every detail he studied, every detail he was taught, and every word that he read. He earned his bachelor’s degree, his master’s degree and his PhD in seven years. He earned his doctorate at the age of twenty-three, and was chased by more women that he could count but he kept a level head, knowing that their interest in him was solely financial.

He took on the dual role of university professor and legal counsel for multiple judges across his home state. He had signed an NDA with the legal system, providing a level of secrecy and trust as he offered his interpretations and understanding of law with particularly difficult cases. His greatest joy in life was in helping those who had been overlooked by the legal system, had been cast into unfortunate and seemingly inescapable situations through accidents and hostility from others.

He lived his life through his forties, and into his fifties, knowing that no woman was genuinely interested in him, seeking only a sugar daddy to feed their empty and vain lives. The thought of being trapped in a relationship with someone shallow, basically ignorant, and less than academically challenging made his stomach turn. “I need someone who can intellectually stimulate me, challenge me, ask me questions, and provide love and stability to my ever-grasping mind,” he told himself.

As his life continued on toward old age, he found himself moving from one home to the next, to the next, and to the next, each one becoming more and more extravagant and luxurious. One evening as he sat alone in his library, staring at the polished hardwood ceiling that pinched him between itself and his hardwood floors, he wondered if there was anything more he could do to make the world a better place. “It seems like no matter how many cases I win or advise on, there always seems to be more and more wrong building up behind it all.”

At most times of the day, he would hold conversations with himself, asking questions, and then answering them, wishing for someone else with whom to dialog. Like a rocket chained down to the launchpad, he ached to do more, to learn more, to understand more, and to make more of a difference. “Give me problems to solve,” he cried out, though there was no one there to answer him or challenge him. “All of this money, all of this education, and all of this stuff merely gathers around me. There must be more I can do to help more people.”

“Financial rigor in the face of so many problems will certainly make an impact,” he said out loud. He opened his investment portfolio, compared it to the ridiculous amount of money he earned each money and immediately made the decision to create private foundations and nonprofit organizations that could make good use of this money, rather than him merely collecting it in bank accounts, in antiques, or in precious metals.

Athanasios spent the next nine months selling all of his possessions, collecting the cash, and eventually selling his home, keeping enough clothing and necessities in several storage units across the city. As the academic years drew to a close at the university, he announced his retirement for the coming year. He genuinely loved interacting with the other professors, the students, but at the same time was becoming more and discouraged by the loss of academic rigor and lowering expectation levels for the students.

He bought a small condominium in the center of town near the courthouse in order to make his legal interaction that much easier. He watched his investments grow, his nonprofit organizations make an impact across the world, and his private foundations provide medical care for those in need, educational grants for those who proved themselves worthy, and the construction of small single-family homes for the truly needy and hard working families, which reminded him of his own childhood and the struggles his parents had gone through.

Despite his ever-growing passion to do more, to help more, and to influence as many people as he could, he watched his friends, and former colleagues slowly drift away from his radically changing lifestyle. He was no longer the polished, classy, rigorous friend to his high-level group of wealthy, and self-centered people. His massive home had been sold, his artwork, his library and his expensive cars were all gone. Athanasios now lived a life of basic necessity and regular comfort and ease. He could no longer stomach the idea of comfort and wealth when he knew that there were so many who were struggling to pay for their basic necessities.

After two more years of offering legal advice, he finally stopped all of this work, all of his monthly income, and instead began focusing on how to live relatively comfortably with the interest he was earning from his former investments. Now with a great deal of time on his hands, he found his greatest joy in watching the positive impact all of his investments were making in the world. He received weekly updates from the many nonprofits, small businesses, and private foundations. Finally feeling like he was doing what he knew he should have been doing all of his life; he made the decision to personally impact the lives of those in the city around him.

His new home was completely paid for, the income from his investments easily covered his basic needs. All of this allowed him to buy groceries, pay medical bills, and help with mortgage payments for those in terrible need. Athanasios would spend the majority of each day walking among the homeless, visiting the sick in hospitals, and visiting those in prison, offering both his financial help when he knew it was needed, and his legal advice for those who had been wrongly imprisoned.

Knowing the greed and animosity of so many people, he maintained a low profile, presenting himself as a regular, friendly person who could offer help to those who needed it. He was the nice, old Greek guy who was friends with everyone. He would spend Sunday afternoons in the park playing chess with the other old men. He made a regular habit of buying food from the food carts, tipping well to help these small business owners.

Every Sunday and Wednesday evening, he would make grocery runs for a large number of families who were desperate to feed their children and keep their houses warm. He began to visit the power company and offered to pay electric bills for anyone who was behind in their payments. He refused to make himself known to those he helped in this way, imagining the joy each family felt when they learned that someone anonymously paid their bills.

There came a point in his life when he was no longer strong enough to travel, visit the sick, the incarcerated, or the grocery store. He started a new small business to take over this work of small budget philanthropy, encouraging those who took his place to continue the work with his abundant income. He transitioned his financial situation away from himself and toward the small business.

He hired a lawyer to draw up legal documents that would continue to invest his money into the small business and start similar small businesses in other surrounding cities. His transition from extravagant, wealthy businessman to a plain, generous smiling old man brought a surprised response from so many who knew him. Athanasios grew older and older to prepare his last will and testament, knowing that everything was in place to keep his plan for positive impact upon the world continuing for the next many centuries.

Though he had never married, never had children, and remained relatively distant to most who knew him, hundreds of people from around the city, from around the state, and even some from distant countries attended his funeral. It was an event he was sad to miss, wishing that he could warmly embrace and greet every one of them, as a last goodbye.


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