A Nondescript Enigmatic Meeting
In a way the meeting seemed destined to be. Several years ago I received a call from the former Dept in which I taught. A former student of mine had come by and asked for my telephone number. It was a new Department Secretary. I explained my long standing past policy remained in effect---I was retired and my phone number was not to be given out. Phone calls of that sort usually mean someone has a problem or it is sad news. I remembered the student, it went way back to the early 70's, a long time ago. I will call the student Darrell but that is not his real name. End of matter.
Then came a ride on the Chicago River Water Taxi, and as I stated in a previous musing, the boat Captain recognized me. It was Darrell. After embarrassing me with praise over a PA system during the trip to a boat load of people, I chatted briefly with him and agree to have lunch with him. I wrestled with this, and really didn't want to do it. He offered to come to Woodridge for the lunch. Fearful of him becoming a pest I didn't want him to know my address so told him I preferred lunch in Chicago.
The time came and I went, on this cold dreary drizzling day. I remembered Darrell because he was different: endless energy, inquisitive about everything, pushy, prone to exaggeration, and unpredictable. He was a decent student capable of B's but not a top student. He hung around my lab on his own and I finally hired him, much to the chagrin of most faculty. My philosophy back then was to routinely hire 1 long shot in the lab. Even so Darrell was a stretch. For many faculty Darrell was hard to control. To me Darrell couldn't thank me enough or put in enough extra hours or offer enough to do this or that for me. Many of his suggestions in the lab were off the wall, creative but too often ignorant. I once took him and another student to some physiology meetings in California, where Darrell, with his gift of gab, managed to bend the ears of many presenters. I also had to take his flute away because the first night there he spent the whole night in this park playing his flute. Part of me always wanted to get rid of Darrell as he seemed stuck at a certain grade point level, and aggravated many of the faculty by always using something I might have said to him to make a point. Plus I got tired of hearing other faculty express their frustrations with Darrell to me, especially stuff like "could you talk to Darrell and get him to......."
Darrell picked me up in Chicago at the right time and place so it got off to a good start. He has 5 kids and 11 grandchildren. He is a cruise boat captain, he ferries boats to Mexico for the owners, he works for Cook County training election judges, has taught Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science at community colleges, and started up his own Foundation. He told me right off the bat that he has been searching for several years to contact two people, I being one of them. Like I say Darrell is a bit off the wall. Right then and there I stopped him. "Darrell, have you kept yourself out of trouble?" Even though I told him to call me Reid (he is 51 years old now) he refused and so his reply was, "Dr. James, you don't know my background and the stress that comes with it. I have been a dope addict and in prison. Out of my 7 closest friends from the neighborhood, I am the only survivor. I used to lie in prison thinking about things you and one other person told me." That first person approached Darrell in high school and urged him to go to college. But according to Darrell he had all D's and just laughed. But the guy was persistent and got Darrell in a program called Chance. He then found out Darrell couldn't read unless reading at the fourth grade level is reading. But he worked with Darrell and got his reading level up. Darrell indicated he has tried to locate this person to thank him but he has had no luck.
I didn't ask Darrell what he was in prison for, or how long. For some reason I didn't want to know. He got into drug treatment for his addiction but after a month, insurance wouldn't pay any more so he feigned suicidal to get continued treatment. They literally tied him down for a month. Even with my background I don't have any brilliant insights into any of this. He is a survivor and can be proud of that. His foundation works with prisoners released from jail. I have no idea whether the foundation is worth a damn in terms of results. I doubt it though. As far as I can determine, he has been a good husband and father to his kids. He claimed it was very important to him that he find me and thank me for saving his life. He claimed he wrote down in jail all the things he remembered my telling him about life and it helped him get his life together. I said earlier Darrell tends to exaggerate and is quite creative. I wonder how much he claims I told him I ever did? But I guess it is of no matter, really.
I never did regret hiring Darrell or letting him yap away. He was more of a burden than any real help in the lab. Ok, I take that back, he was of help in the lab, but a burden came with it. He never did offend me with his behavior, it kind of just amazed me. It still does. In a weird sort of way I have real respect for Darrell. And besides he survives by being an energetic 'operator'. He told me that he once leased a cab by the week, but just used it as needed to get some money. If the family wanted pizza he would just pick up passengers until he had enough money to pay for the pizza. If he went to the grocery store he did the same thing. I think I will lease a cab starting next week!
For all his zaniness Darrell has a good moral compass. He is honest, hard working, fair, loyal, and helpful to others. At the end of lunch I told Darrell: "You know Darrell, I am glad you caught up with me, but you really are on your own now. Don't even think about bringing any problems my way, and I am dead serious about that." He promised me he wouldn't and that he really did have his act together now. I wondered if he will ever run out of energy.
As you can see, it really was a nondescript enigmatic meeting. But it made for an interesting day. On the train ride back to Woodridge my thoughts about this country grew heavy. There are 2.2 million people in this country in prison. That represents 22% of the people in prison across the whole world. Why is it that our society leads the world in jailing people? Absent some sort of criminal genes loose in our population it seems something is not right about the atmosphere in which so many are raised in this country. It isn't just at home either---we are a very violence oriented society with 750 military bases in 130 countries. What other country remotely approaches this? Why, at this point in our history do we need to maintain some sort of global empire at gun point? We have spent, with no end in sight, $648 billion dollars to kill hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Iraqians and leave over 2 million homeless. It has made Hussein look like some sort of Saint. What has all this violence accomplished except place us front and center for all sort of terrorists across the globe? Probably, deep down, most of us know eventually terrorists of some sort are going to find ways to really hurt us in great numbers. If foreign terrorists don't, then it won't be long before the disaffected in our own country become terrorists. If the poor get any poorer while the rich get richer and richer we are certainly doomed. What kind of Christian nation allows itself to grow into such a military monster with so much indifference to the hapless in our own country?
The latest released statistic blows my mind. A relatively modest, as massacres occur across the globe go, 3000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. But here is the kicker. Over 6000 American soldiers have committed suicide during or after their Iraq assignment. I know they signed up to make money as soldiers, but they clearly must be seeing something or feeling something dreadful to commit suicide in such numbers at such a young age. That guy Dennis Kuchinech (Sp) is the only candidate serious about putting a stop to all this military craziness and he is considered a joke in the election. I fear the joke is on us, but I just can't seem to laugh about it.
But ah, life is personally good to me. I put on my blinders, live in an affluent community, look out from my 11th floor balcony----and as far as my eye can see, all is well in this best of all possible worlds. After all, seeing is believing. I guess.
