Help Paulo Arruda get transportation to chemo.

Our jack of all trades, master of none, Yoda Paul, has cancer and needs transportation to the hospital and beyond. Yes minimalism is the way of the guru but that doesn’t get you the mooloo.

If people became rich strictly on the basis of their kindness and generosity, Paulo Arruda would be worth not millions but billions. His heart of gold (Neil Young) alone should earn him a place in Forbes Magazine’s richest humans. It certainly has earned him a place in Heaven for when that time comes many many years from now.

But we all know kindness in this society doesn’t work well for our pocketbooks. And we also know, it’s the silent majority of Americans who clock in and never seem to clock out. Grinding day after day, are the ones who keep this giant country goo goo g'joobing (The Beatles) along like the well oiled train it is. Paul is that silent majority that is never recognized for their valor in this daily war of surviving life in America.

This man, my friend, is from an era where men worked hard with their blistering callused hands but were always kind and chivalrous like a gentleman.

This man, my brother, never looks the other way when a living being is in need, no matter who they are.

This man, my uncle Paulo, would take time off of work to drive 6 hours to pick me up while being stranded with my dog in the north woods of Maine. This was years before cell phone service. Yes there was a life before cell phones. We relied on paper maps and our instinct to find a way. He was the only person I called from a pay phone in some small town. A town so small that its name is now irrelevant. Why did I choose to call Paul first!? Because I knew he would come without hesitation and with no explanation needed.

I gave him directions to follow the tree line to the electric wires. Follow until you find an enormous granite boulder. I would be alone waiting with my dog under the Maine night sky. Camping behind that said rock. He found me. He always did find me. And for all of you reading this who personally know him, you have memories of him coming to find you. To aid in whatever emergency it is you had and will have. Without judgement, without concern of what background, color of your skin or who you vote for. He always comes. He is the unspoken hero.

Uncle Paulo, a tough looking streetwise crazy diamond (Pink Floyd) in the rough, from an era when Boston was tumbled and our people were truly rough.

And In case you haven’t heard, my best friend, my uncle Paul, my brother Paulo has bladder cancer.

He isn’t going to ask you for help because that is not him. He is a man with so much pride. So I am personally asking everyone to help get the money he needs to get his car running again or maybe let’s get him a new one!

Has anyone ever known him to be without a car? No! Never! His car is what a horse is to a cowboy. And his car needs to get him to chemo and the so many other doctors appointments he has. So it’s time for us all to help.

Our memories with Paul run deep. So if you can, dig deep into your pockets. But we all know any little amount collectively will help make this goal.

The chemo will last for months, maybe longer and yet he would say no if I mentioned any of this to him. So I will not say he needs us. He never does. He somehow always survives with his 9 lives. What I am saying is, WE NEED HIM!

So now is the time to return that love and show him that being rich in compassion, integrity and love really does make the list!