Judge Mindy Glazer was presiding over a burglary case in a Miami-Dade court, when she thought she recognized the defendant.
“Did you go to Nautilus?” Glazer asked the man.
“Oh my goodness,” Arthur Booth blurted out while smiling in embarrassment and then covering his face in shame.
The judge and the defendant were classmates at Nautilus Middle School.
“I’m sorry to see you here,” said Judge Glazer. “I always wondered what happened to you.”
“This was the nicest kid in middle school – he was the best kid in middle school,” Glazer went on. “I used to play football with him, all the kids, and look what has happened.”
“What’s sad is how old we’ve become. Good luck to you, sir, I hope you are able to come out of this OK and just lead a lawful life.”
The relationships we make throughout life – even the temporary ones – can reappear at the most unusual moments.
How we change over time can never become so clear as when a face from the past holds a mirror up to show who we’ve become.
As Arthur Booth found out, you definitely want to be proud of that person.
