Lucky to Have Terry Bean as my Brother!

I have the great fortune to have Terry Bean as my brother. That means that unless you are my sister Becky…I’m probably luckier than you. Luckier because I have a better brother than you do…and its so lopsided that Vegas isn’t even issuing odds.

Terry taught me about “win/win” when I was 6 and he was 12 years old. Not even a teenager and he was solving problems by thinking outside the box. That was in the early 60’s, a few decades before thinking outside the box would be the mantra of many and the practice of few.

Terry Bean taught me how to drive. (My wife opines that this is a dubious achievement.) He then taught me about humor and loving without regard to circumstances…I wrecked his first car on one of my driving lessons…and he laughed and told me he loved me.

I learned about generosity from my brother. He paid for someone’s AZT treatment…and that was before he was rich.

He also introduced me to a pair of US Presidents, US and State Senators and Congressman, and more. Many people I respected and a few like Barbara Roberts that I love, too.

He gave me my first trips to DC and NYC, my first Cruise, the flagship of my watch collection and a Mercedes Benz convertible.

More important than “things”, being Terry Bean’s brother has taught me about being passionate in support of rights for gays, women, blacks, and to care about the poor. Rich? certainly by some standards…but nothing like he would have been had he turned his full passion towards wealth creation instead of fighting for gay rights.

We live in a different world today than we would have inherited without Bean’s efforts. We are now talking about the future of equal marriage rights, and less likely to have future tragedies like Mathew Sheppard and The Stonewall Riots.

Yes, I am luckier than you because TB is my brother. But we as a society are better off because of Terry Bean, too!