Can People Change?

A chameleon in the midst of changing colors.

A few years ago, I was playing in an over-40 basketball league when I encountered the schoolyard bully who’d terrorized me throughout my childhood. I recognized him right away though it was clear he didn’t recognize me. As fate would have it, I was assigned to guard him. Immediately, he thrust a sharp elbow into my ribs and said, “Get out of my face, punk.” For the next hour, I was subject to a flurry of punches, kicks and kidney shots. I wanted to fight…