NEVER TOOK NO SHIT FROM NO ONE

There it was in my mailbox. A request from a long-ago friend to write a letter to the judge who is preparing to sentence him to prison.

Looks like it will be 12-18 months, and I suppose it's standard practice for lawyers to solicit letters speaking to the character of the accused, in an effort to draw the shorter end of that sentencing range.

So what to do? Well, if you have a stubborn Irish belief in the concept of redemption, you consider writing the letter.

Aw hell, who I am kidding? I wrote it at lunch today...

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to speak briefly about my relationship with X.

X and I became friends when we were both 14 years old. X at that young age was distinguished by his expansive heart and his abundant generosity.

I had lost my father three years prior to becoming friends with X, and my family was in a financially vulnerable state. Unbidden, X would pay for the slices of pizza I sometimes couldn’t afford, or help cover the cost of movie tickets that my summer job would not allow.

I recall in particular the car stereo that had been given to him by an uncle who worked in the electronics business, which X gave to me as a gift when I was 14. This act of largesse was the essence of X: the basic impulse was noble and good, if a bit impractical (I was at that point a few years away from even having a driver’s license). The stereo sat on my bookshelf in its box untouched, a dusty symbol of the type of friend I hope everyone has been lucky enough to have at that age.

My conscience requires me to note that X and I have not been in close contact for over 20 years now. He has made me aware of his current situation, and it has taken me back to that 14-year-old boy. He was impetuous, impractical, and impish. He was generous, kind, and fiercely loyal to those he loved. Even separated as we are by years and miles and circumstances, I trust in my heart that X is still all of those things.

It is my hope that the resolution of the current situation will come with its necessary lessons, but allow X to keep intact the abiding spirit of my 14-year-old friend.