When Enough Isn’t Enough

I never had enough.

Connor vaguely heard the words as they spilled out of his grandfather, the patriarch’s mouth, and formed a forgotten puddle on the unforgiving linoleum.  He sighed deeply as he added the last flourishes to an email on his iPhone and returned his gaze to the aged man lying in the hospital bed.  A quick glance at the Rolex confirmed that his sister would arrive in a few minutes to take over the babysitting obligation.  The distributors meeting could only be delayed so long.

Come on grandpa, you pretty much own this hospital wing!

The patriarch was dying.  As a young man of Connor’s age, he had no concept of when enough isn’t enough.  He built a multibillion dollar manufacturing business which became the fodder of his legacy to his thankless children and his self-absorbed grandchildren.

The Family Business

The patriarch despised his grandchildren.  Connor, his namesake, was no better than the rest.  They glommed onto his business.  The business built from his blood, sweat, and tears.  Yet, what could he expect?  Connor shared much more than his name.  His bulldozer tenacity and laser like focus made him a perfect fit to inherit the helm of the sprawling multinational conglomerate.

Connor, like himself, couldn’t discern when enough isn’t enough.  Both men measured themselves on the voracity of their holdings.  Each allowed their self-worth to rise and fall with the stock market valuation of the colossus that consumed their lives.

Unlike his lazy father, who also shared the patriarch’s name, Connor the third viewed the business as a living, breathing entity.  The sum was of much greater value than the parts.

I never had enough.

Connor, looking blankly out the window at a nurse and patient sitting together in an enclosed courtyard, paid little attention to his grandfather’s mumblings.

Wealth

Generational wealth.  It was a tune that all three generations of Connors knew well.  The patriarch, the creator.  The second, the ruthless spender, and the third, the builder.

When enough isn’t enough, love is traded for greed.  The affections shared between these three men went no further than a glancing admiration for wealth building prowess.  Connor respected his grandfather for starting the business.  He even revered him.

Yet, the old man’s passing at the hands of some cancer or another, was neither sad nor surprising.  It was just another inconvenience in the day-to-day responsibilities of a young corporate CEO.

There were private jets and lavish accommodations.  The finest champagne and best restaurants.  Servants in waiting for the patriarch and his progeny.  But Connor couldn’t escape the immediacy of the old man’s need.  He couldn’t delay his presence if but only for appearances.

Money is time and time is money.

When Death Comes

The death rattle marched from hospital bed towards eternity.  The patriarch’s wealth and power were impotent in the face of biological necessity.

I never had enough time for you kids.  Enough isn’t enough!

Connor looked up at the patriarch questioningly but it was too late.  The chest wall had ceased to move.  Some great force had mysteriously extinguished itself.

And momentarily Connor’s mind reeled.  He envisioned his wife slinking next door when he was away on business. He watched, as if on television, the nanny tucking in the children every night as he consumed himself with emergency meetings and late night dinners at the office.

Is that what the patriarch meant?

The alarm on his iPhone buzzed, and Connor noted that the distributors would be assembled in his office in fifteen minutes.

He tucked his briefcase under his armpit in a hurry and rushed past the nursing station towards the elevator.

It never occurred to him to notify any of the staff.  Nor his family for that matter.

The patriarch was dead.