Mind Book 4

STORY SETUP - Carlos Ortega and his wife Marguerite entered the United States from Mexico in 1966. Their intentions were to go through the process of becoming U.S. citizens. Both loved their native country of Mexico, however, they desired the opportunity to live in a country where hard work and persistence could lead to success. They dreamed of buying a nice house in a nice community and raise a family while living the good life. Carlos understood that all of these dreams wouldn't be handed to him; he had to work for it, something he was more than willing to do. Carlos and Marguerite were raised in good families near Enseneda, Mexico and knew each other since childhood. Their constant support and love for each other was the foundation that would guide them through the challenging times ahead.

THE STORY - In 1966, Carlos and Marguerite settled in the small Southern California community town of Poway. Over the next several years Carlos and Marguerite became U.S. citizens, bought a modest home and were blessed with the birth of a daughter; then a year later with the birth of a son. Carlos worked very hard, establishing a stable work record with the same company. Soon, Carlos would start attending college, studying for an Electrical Engineering degree. All this would require great sacrifice, especially from Marguerite; taking care of two children and her husband. Both knew this short-term sacrifice would make life better for their family in the future. With a lot of hard work, Carlos and his family would be rewarded with success beyond their wildest dreams.

You should complete this mind book with a happy ending. Read the snapshot and you will discover not just and ending, but also many happy beginnings. Much more writing is needed to complete this mind book. When you finish, don't sell this book in bookstores, instead, distribute it throughout your community for free, telling everyone to place it on the "required reading" shelf.

THE SNAPSHOT - The long hard struggle for the Ortega family was about to pay off. Carlos received his college degree and graduated with honors, which led to many job offers. He accepted a position with a new and growing computer company doing research and design. It was 1973 and Carlos was compensated very well for his contribution to the company. Soon he was regarded as one on the most valuable employees, justifiably being rewarded with raises and bonuses. Life kept getting better for the Ortega's.

Now it was time for Marguerite to attend college. Initially, she attended classes two nights a week, studying for a Marketing degree while Carlos stayed home to watch the children, both now in early grade school.

In 1974, they sold their house and bought a spacious home up in the hills near Ramona, not far from Poway. During this time the Ortega's had been investing their money and doing so, wisely. Their wealth amassed and by 1977 their accumulated net worth was between forty-five and fifty million dollars. The Ortega's had invested in many local businesses and started five businesses that created 621 jobs. Carlos resigned from his position doing research and design, but was retained as an advisor to the company. As time went by, Carlos decided that it would be necessary to hire an assistant to help manage the Ortega's investments and many business ventures. This person would have to be a highly qualified individual. A trustworthy person that made ethics and honesty a top priority would be very important. Carlos and Marguerite waded though the many applicants before deciding on Larry Watkins. Larry would be asked to take on a huge workload and handle a high volume of money transfers and cash transactions. He would be rewarded handsomely with a yearly salary of $165,000 for his expertise. Carlos and Marguerite would soon trust him enough to handle some of their personal business.

Early on a Tuesday morning, Carlos sat in a Denny's restaurant eating breakfast, waiting for Larry to arrive. After almost two weeks of digging and investigating, the final leg of a secret project was to be completed the night before by Larry. Carlos sipped his coffee, which hit the spot as Larry slipped into the booth and sat down. Larry ordered breakfast and a cup of coffee.

"Did you get a signature on the agreement?" Carlos asked with eager anticipation.

Larry laid his briefcase on the table, from it removing a document and handing it across the table. Carlos quickly looked at the document with a signature at the bottom. The smile on Carlos's face grew as he looked back at Larry, who was smiling. For the months to follow, Carlos and Larry would meet at Denny's the morning after completing a secret project.

Marguerite and Carlos sat in the living room early Sunday morning drinking a cup of coffee. Marguerite unfolded the morning newspaper and looked at the front page; surprised by what she saw, handed the paper to Carlos. The front-page headline read: "MYSTERY GIVER STRIKES" Here is an excerpt from the article:

Escondido - Someone bearing the traits of the Lone Ranger is roaming the Hidden Valley. This according to Bob Weis, a recent car accident victim that was left paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheel chair. Bob claims that two months ago, he received a knock on his front door and upon answering, found a man dressed in black, wearing a black cowboy hat and boots with an obvious fake mustache standing before him. Bob says the stranger asked if he could come inside to talk about a cash grant he was selected to receive. Bob was reluctant, given the strangers appearance but invited him in when he cited some of the facts related to the car accident he was involved in. What happened next, claimed Bob, was a pleasant surprise. The stranger explained that a local organization, which chooses to remain anonymous, was selecting one person a month to receive different sizes of cash grants. Bob showed us a copy of an agreement that stipulated two conditions to receiving the grant. The first was that Bob agree to pay applicable taxes on money received. The second was that Bob agree to make a reasonable effort not to disclose any information about the origin of the money and respect the wishes of the organization's anonymity. Bob said his initial reaction was shock when he saw the figure of $95,000 at the bottom of the agreement. The dark mysterious stranger handed a pen to Bob for his signature, which he volunteered gladly. With a big smile on his face, the stranger took $95,000 in cash from his briefcase and handed it to Bob, shook his hand and thanked him, then exited out the door never to be heard from again. Bob agreed to this interview only if we printed that it was his cousin that contacted the newspaper with the story and not him.

It is speculated that seven more people have received these grants in as many months. We are currently in contact with two people concerning.

Carlos looked at Marguerite, saying, "I thought this would eventually happen."

The secret was out, but no one had a clue about the Mystery Giver or who had sent him. Over the next six months, the local papers made the Mystery Giver front-page news every time a person or family received money. One local paper reported that someone in Rancho Bernardo was given a $125,000 grant by the Mystery Giver to start a business that now employees nine people. Also, an elderly couple was given $50,000 to pay off their mortgage and other bills. The list continued to grow.

During this time, Marguerite graduated from college with a marketing degree and took over operations in new business ventures and a few of their existing businesses. One year later, a total of three new businesses had started and flourished under Marguerite. In 1979 she was named Southern California Business Woman of the year. By early 1980, the Ortega's net worth had ballooned to an estimated 170 million dollars. Meanwhile, local news started reporting that the Mystery Giver was striking twice a month now. By mid-year, NBC, ABC and CBS carried the story on the evening news. In September, Larry Watkins was promoted with a sizable pay raise and named Vice President of operations over the Ortega's growing conglomeration.

The Ortega's were very busy, but Carlos still took time to meet Larry for breakfast at Denny's, always the morning after the night of the Mystery Giver. During one such meeting, Carlos remarked to Larry that he thought it was incredible the identity of the Mystery Giver hadn't been discovered yet. Both had heard about a local investigative reporter that vowed to find the identity of the Mystery Giver; the reporter ran into dead ends. The Ortega's soon decided to give Larry more responsibility and authority to hire assistants, as he deemed necessary. This would allow Carlos and Marguerite to spend more time doing family activities with their daughter and son, both now in junior high. The family did spend more time together being involved in church and school activities along with a few more vacations.

Over time, the popularity of the Mystery Giver grew. In San Marcos, a twelve year old took one hundred dollars from his savings and bought ten black cowboy hats, t-shirts and fake mustaches. He divided them into ten sets, then put them into large plastic bags and with a felt pen wrote - MYSTERY GIVER KIT - on the front of each bag. He carried all his kits to a swap meet on a Saturday, set up a table and sold all of them within an hour for fifteen dollars a piece. That meant he turned a $100 investment into $150. The young boy realized he had tapped into a gold mine and hired a friend to help him market his new novelty item, agreeing to pay him 10% of sales. Soon, Mystery Giver kits were being sold all over Southern California, with 12,000 sold in the first four months. The young entrepreneur and his assistant set out to market their product nation wide. They improved their product by including a small ten-page booklet with a few short stories about the Mystery Giver and raised the price of the kit to seventeen dollars. They even included a copy of the contract that the Mystery Giver used.

One day in mid January 1981, an elderly couple in San Diego heard a knock on their front door. Upon answering the door, they discovered their neighbor's six-year-old daughter standing there and wearing a black cowboy hat, t-shirt and fake mustache with a five dollar bill and contract in hand. In cities all over Southern California, similar accounts of children and teenagers knocking on doors dressed as the Mystery Giver were reported. All over the region, donations to charitable organizations increased. By the end of the year, Mystery Giver kits were being marketed nation wide at a price of twenty dollars each after upgrading the black t-shirt to a button-up shirt. The young entrepreneur that started it all was on his way to becoming a millionaire. He gave 10% of all sales to charity. He also started an organization that helped students, age seventeen and under start new businesses.

In Chicago, it was reported that a group, estimated at thirty teens and pre-teens dressed as Mystery Giver's spent all day Saturday doing cleanup and repair jobs for the elderly and needy. In Houston, a group of young Mystery Giver's raised $5,000 for an accident victim and then set out to raise more money for people in need. From coast to coast, local newspapers frequently reported about the young Mystery Giver's good deeds. It wasn't too long before the Mystery Giver's fan club was started.

Carlos had just returned from a two-week family vacation that included visiting relatives in Mexico and a week's stay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As was the custom, Carlos and Larry met in the morning at Denny's to discuss business and private matters. Larry took a few moments to scan the headlines on the front page of the paper. He handed the paper over to Carlos. The headline read: "APPEAL TO MYSTERY GIVER" The following is the content of the appeal:

Greetings Mystery Giver! This paper and a great many citizens of Southern California whish to make an appeal to you. We ask that you consider writing us a letter sent anonymously with the answer to this question: Why? After all the years of secrecy and giving, what continues to drive you to do all the good you do? A lot of people wish to thank you for all you have done. Many of us also wonder why you have chosen to conduct all of this in secret? We ask that you write us as instructed and we will print your response in our paper.

Carlos looked at Larry. Neither of them could contain their smiles. An hour later, Carlos walked through the front door of his house and saw Marguerite sitting in the living room, drinking coffee while reading the newspaper. She looked at Carlos; her smile was ear to ear.

On a Saturday morning, all the local papers carried the response from the Mystery Giver. One front-page headline read: "WORDS FROM THE MYSTERY GIVER" Here are the words written by the Mystery Giver that followed:

Greetings from the Mystery Giver. It was not I, but you, that gave me the name of Mystery Giver. I would rather have continued this operation in secrecy, but after seeing all the good that has resulted, I'm pleased to say that everything has worked out for the best. I want to thank all of you for your appreciation of our good works, of which I have no pleasure in boasting about. Now I will attempt to answer the questions that all of you are eager to know. A lot of you want to know why? The answer is simple. About sixteen years ago, my wife and I were jus starting out and we both worked hard to achieve our goals. Along the way we received help and without it, our success could have been in doubt or the road would have been much more strenuous. No one ever gave us a hand out and we never asked for one. The help we received in the past enabled us to help other people in need of help. Some of the people we helped went on to help other people. Do you see why? I never expected the impact all of this would have. Now you ask why I do all of this in secret? I will just submit this: Is the giver greater than the spirit of giving? Is the messenger the carrier of the message? What's important here is that there was an act of giving. Yes, I am the giver but if everyone knew my identity, the focus would be on me, not the act of giving. If the spirit of giving is in you; then you know that when you give, you also receive.

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