Hurts

You’ve
had
this
happen
to
you,
maybe
you
were
driving
down
the
road
and
a
dog
or
cat
ran
out
and
you
tried
to
avoid
it,
but
you
couldn’t
and
well,
you
know
what
happened.
You
felt
terrible,
but
there
really
wasn’t
anything
you
could
have
done.
It
still
didn’t
make
it
any
easier,
did
it?
Maybe
you
said
something
to
someone
that
you
wished
you
could
take
back,
but
it
was
just
too
late
and
you
lost
a
friend
or
the
relationship
was
just
never
the
same
afterwards.

We’ve
all
been
there
and
done
that.
Don’t
want
that
t-shirt.

Well,
last
week
I
interviewed
a
young
man
to
help
us
at
our
company.
He
told
me
he
was
forty-one
years
old,
but
looked
about
thirty.
Clean
cut,
just
married,
baby
on
the
way.
Lots
of
enthusiasm,
willing
to
work
hard,
one
of
those
guys
you
know
just
know
is
going
to
do a
good
job
for
you
and
be
with
you
a
long
time.
When
I
interviewed
him,
he
answered
all
my
questions
correctly
and
like
I
said,
I
thought
I
had
a
winner.

Yesterday,
when
he
came
in,
we
had
him
sit
down
and
fill
out
the
rest
of
his
paperwork
so
we
could
get
him
started.
After
he
was
finished,
he
got
sent
over
for
training
and
to
get
started.
The
payroll
department
ran
his
name
through
the
service
we
use
for
background
checks
and
then
they
came
to
see
me.

This
fine,
nice
looking
young
man
had
several
pages
of
criminal
history.
He
had
served
over
eight
years
in
prison
for
burglary,
drugs
and
assault.
I
called
him
in
and
asked
him
if
it
was
him
or
was
it
some
mistake.
On
his
application,
he
admitted
he
had
been
arrested,
but
said
it
was
for
not
turning
in a
rent
car
on
time.
Nothing
we’d
be
overly
concerned
about. 
Obviously
he
forgot
the
rest
of
the
details.
He
said,
it
wasn’t
a
mistake,
it
was
him.

He
looked
like
a
wounded
puppy
and
I
could
feel
the
pain
starting
inside
of
him
as
it
probably
has
done
so
many
times
before.
He
told
me
these
things
had
happened
when
he
was
a
teenager,
but
some
of
them
had
occurred
ten
years
ago,
so
that
would
have
happened
when
he
was
in
his
late
twenties
or
early
thirties.
I
could
sense
his
feeling
of
defeat
as I
walked
him
out
the
door.

We
own
a
freight
company;
we
deal
in
other
people’s
materials
and
possessions.
People
hire
us
to
transport
their
things
from
one
place
to
another
and
give
them
back
to
them.
My
contracts
read
such
that
I
cannot
hire
personnel
with
felony
convictions
for
theft,
drugs
or
violence
of
any
kind.
I am
telling
our
customers
that
we
have
investigated
our
employees
and
can
assure
them
that
they
do
not
have
a
criminal
history
of
drugs,
theft
or
violence.
The
public
wants
this
kind
of
assurance.

My
problem
is
this.
At
what
point
does
this
young
man
get
shed
of
his
history
and
start
to
make
a
new
life
without
his
past
following
him
around?

 

I
realize
the
choices
he
made
were
of
his
own
choosing
and
he
should
have
thought
about
what
he
was
doing
before
he
did
it.
But,
still
when
and
where
does
someone
go
who
needs
some
help?

Not
to
me,
I
can’t
hire
him.
People
wouldn’t
let
me
and
I
would
be
uneasy
having
him
on
board
and
under
constant
scrutiny.
But,
I do
feel
sorry
for
him
and
wish
him
the
best.
I
just
don’t
know
what
to
do
to
help
him
or
how
to
advise
someone
in
this
sort
of
situation.

Maybe
getting
married
and
having
a
baby
has
caused
him
to
change
his
ways
and
settle
down.
My
question
is
how
does
he
ever
prove
he’s
worthy
of
becoming
a
new
person
and
able
to
inspire
trust
in
those
around
him
or
for
whom
he
works?

I
wish
I
had
asked
him
about
his
background
more
closely
before
I
agreed
to
hire
him,
but
it
just
slipped
my
mind
and
I
didn’t
really
think
about
it
due
to
way
he
appeared
and
conducted
himself
in
the
interview.