Living Proof

Bryan just added a comment to what I wrote about him a few days ago but since it's sort of too 'buried' under all the other comments I'm going to put it up here too, as a posting.Again this is my former student and valued friend who in my book came back from the dead, thanks to the 12 Steps and the daily discipline of self reflection and self scrutiny:

Hi Terry: I'm writing in response to the story you printed about the way God led me to 'randomly' meet someone I had needed to make amends to for a long time. As heady and intoxicating to my ego having the story printed was, there were other more important lessons learned here, for me.The story didn't end there, at Bentley's, in that line, behind that guy, that day: Paul and I met two days later in my office. I was able to apologize for my behavior, after all those years. We agreed on a dollar figure for the car, $3,500, and I wrote him a check for $1,000, agreeing to pay the rest in monthly installments.I encountered fear again before writing the check. I had had a couple of customers, earlier that month, not pay me what they owed me. My initial thoughts were to use that as an excuse to either not pay Paul or to give him a much smaller check. But, that fear was quickly removed too and I made a "good demonstration" giving him nearly 1/3 of the amount we had agreed on. I was amazed that as I handed him the check, that all the financial fear was gone.Then I asked Paul for his mailing address, so I could send monthly installments, and he said " No. Why would you want to mail me the checks, when we could just see each other once in a while and you could give me the installments in person".Again, I was dumbfounded. I asked him " Why would you want to see me once in a while, instead of getting the checks in the mail?"He said, " Because you're a good guy. Why wouldn't I want to see you?"I still didn't fully understand. Why would anyone I had treated so poorly ever want to see me again?We've been out riding twice since that weekend. And I got a call from him today to come and look at some houses he's building, to give him  quotes for installing the heat and air conditioning, which, as you know, is what I do.Paul's reaction to me throughout this whole thing has amazed me. I expected nothing but bitterness and anger, but he's been just the opposite. I have a couple of resentments towards a few people I feel owe me amends from the past. I wonder if I would greet these people with the same compassion, dignity, and willingness to forgive that Paul has demonstrated towards me?AA's Big Book teaches us how to make an amend, but Paul has shown me how to receive one and forgive the person making it. If someone came to me to make an ammend, I hope I can behave as Paul has towards me.There were just so many lessons  to learn, all around this thing.I read some of the comments people wrote after reading your article and I was truly touched. It seems a lot of people were affected by this story.I'm just a schmuck who made an amend and told you about it. Then, you told hundreds if not thousands of people by printing it in your article.Judging by the reactions of those who responded, so many more people were affected by this than just Paul, you, or myself.There's a line in a Bruce Springsteen song titled " Living Proof". Bruce sings " I was looking for a little bit of God's mercy and I found living proof."Now, so have I, so has Paul, so have you, and so have your readers.And we've all been changed, by this, just a little bit.Living Proof.Love, Bryan (as he looks today)