To the person who taught me it is my choice.
Sometimes there are people in our lives who effect us in ways that are indelible but for sure. They change us irrevocably and oftentimes not for the better. There is a longing...in me, at least, to reach out to these people. To say...
"What you did was wrong and dangerous but I thank you for it. I thank you because the impact of your immorality and flippant, poorly thought out advice has created the person I am today. This is the only me that I know and though it is disturbing to think, I sometimes make my way around the corner and catch sight of something I like about myself which I know to be a result of the words you said without thinking...and the things you did without consideration. Not all of us think through the moves we make out here in the wild world of reality and I for one am glad you did not think it through back then. I am glad for your disregard. I am glad for your clumsiness. I am glad for the stupid, raging fire that grew from the fizzling match you dropped inside of the tinderbox you knew nothing of. Thus, I am glad for you and all your foolishness. I won't forget you, though I nearly have."
"What you did was wrong and dangerous but I thank you for it. I thank you because the impact of your immorality and flippant, poorly thought out advice has created the person I am today. This is the only me that I know and though it is disturbing to think, I sometimes make my way around the corner and catch sight of something I like about myself which I know to be a result of the words you said without thinking...and the things you did without consideration. Not all of us think through the moves we make out here in the wild world of reality and I for one am glad you did not think it through back then. I am glad for your disregard. I am glad for your clumsiness. I am glad for the stupid, raging fire that grew from the fizzling match you dropped inside of the tinderbox you knew nothing of. Thus, I am glad for you and all your foolishness. I won't forget you, though I nearly have."