Then I received a letter from a dockworker named Reggie Turner.

You once threatened my brother over a bill your company later admitted was wrong, it began.

You might be helping the police now, but my family still remembers.

If you really mean to make changes, do not start by asking people to call you a good man.

I read it slowly.

For years, I had divided the world into people who were useful to me and people who stood in my way.

Reggie’s letter reminded me that the people in neither category had lives that continued after my threats were forgotten by everyone except them.