I’m All Right Regardless of what a Lot of People Say (FWE - LNPS)

The challenge for today is another freestyle-type prompt. I want you to describe the smartest person you know. Whether they're smart because of life-experience, education, common sense, natural intelligence, or whatever, I want you to tell us why you feel they are smart. How do you know them? Are you drawn to them, or repelled? And I want this to be someone you've actually met, who has had an impression on you in one way or another.

As part of the challenge, use the three words above (in whichever form you choose: regardless, a lot, and all right, or the other way around). Make sure they fit in naturally with what you're saying. :-)

* * *

There, I satisfied the part of the challenge to use those three words. Now I have to worry about the nit-picky portion and that’s going to take some doing.

Never one to follow the rules, I’m going to interpret the challenge the way that makes it easy on me. And I’m still having trouble with it. Trying to choose one person is impossible for me. I’ve chosen to mention two completely different types of individuals.

To avoid a lawsuit, I’ll use a fake name for the first brilliant man I know. George owned a mortgage company for years and was part of the housing bubble that threw the economy into the toilet because he knew how to work the system.

A couple would walk in looking for a mortgage and they’d get it. It didn’t matter that their credit score was only 150. It didn’t matter that they had an average bank balance of only $200. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have any money for a down payment. It didn’t matter that they only had a combined income of $1,200 per month.

After George worked his magic, the borrowers would walk out (a month or so later) with their $350,000 loan and the keys to a new home.

A year later, that same couple was four months behind in their payments and facing foreclosure. No problem for George; he’d refinance them through another company and their $350,000 loan was now $420,000, but at a lower rate.

When several of his loan officers were investigated by the FBI, George somehow distanced himself from them and never had any black marks on his record. In his own crooked way, he was brilliant.

The other side of the coin is my friend Todd, a construction contractor. If you want to renovate your kitchen, build a new garage, or even build a new house from the ground up, he can do it. What makes him special, to me, is that he not only knows how to do all the work, but he knows who can do quality work for him at a reasonable price. If you ask him about any type of work, he’ll make a call and have an expert available to take care of it.

When I managed a bar, we had to rebuild a room after a fire and Todd was there to show us what to do. He didn’t just tell us to do this or do that, he’d cut a piece of wood, put it in place, and explain what he was doing. Then, he’d watch us do the remainder, always pointing out where we screwed up.

When a company needed a warehouse retrofitted for earthquake compliance, Todd had a welder, plumber, electrician, and several carpenters available exactly when they were needed.

His intelligence is shown by being able to match many different people to various jobs.