“People who were willing to tell me the truth,” I answered.

“And the realization that I had spent years punishing them for it.”

I didn’t say I had become a good man.

That verdict belonged to the people who had to live with my decisions.

Afterward, Ruth shook my hand and said, “At least you didn’t make a speech about how one moment fixed your life.”

“One moment started it,” I replied.

“It didn’t fix anything.”