(x)wisdom

My high school friend Mike Chasse died on November 3rd in a New Jersey prison. Mike and I were mostly connected through football, having played together in junior high and high school. It seems like yesterday Eric H., Brian C., and I were eating lunch in the Lewiston High School cafeteria. I also remember the time these guys helped us move to our house in Auburn. That piano almost killed us but we were motivated by donuts. Together we ate about three dozen, though I think Mike ate a dozen by himself.

I'll never forget the time Mike burst out laughing in the hall between classes. It was as if the site of Brian made him remember the joke from lunch and he was just now getting it. It was hilarious, even for Mike. I also remember the way he used to yell, "Come on guys!" from the sidelines; even my mother remembers how he said it.

Mike was always one of the bigger guys but he never really became coordinated until his senior year in high school, by then he was 6' 7" and around 280 pounds. He wasn't the fastest thinker in the bunch either and as a result he was teased and picked on. Whether it was people stealing food off his tray at the lunch table or consistently getting taken down at football practice, Mike was bullied. I suspect there were other things that I never really knew about, whether at school or other places. I think we all knew something was up but looking back I never put it all together.

Oh, Mike. I followed your life in the papers but I was not a good friend to you after high school. I never called you or wrote. I never tried to be your friend when life was crashing down for you. I can't help but wonder what my responsibility is in everything that happened to you. I know I can't change the past and this is not about me but if I had known then what I know now there are so many things I would have done differently, so many ways I would have been a better friend to you. My prayer now is that the Lord will bring this lesson to mind the next time a friend (new or old) is in trouble.

I have so many good memories of Mike and I know others have memories that are quite the opposite. I am so sorry that is the case. For me, I will remember Mike as the huge guy who took his helmet off for the National Anthem and in the process released a huge amount of steam from his head and out of his shoulder pads. I will never forget the site of it on that cool October night under the lights in Lewiston, Maine.

Goodbye old friend.

References:

1. Minot mom relieved her son died peacefully in cell rather than living in prison another 50 years
2. The strange, sad life and death of Michael Chasse
3. Infamous Maine prisoner found dead in New Jersey cell