My Friend Carl

I have a friend who is labeled as “disabled” although he is very able if you ask me, or if you ask him. He earned an undergraduate degree in some sort of engineering – I think chemical – from Penn State in only three years. He worked at various jobs using that degree for many years. He was good at what he did.

He is also a brittle diabetic, meaning that his blood sugar is not easily regulated. Along with that comes various secondary problems that are known to affect diabetics. Carl slowly and relentlessly lost his sight. All sight in one eye is forever gone. He can see shadows if there is enough light with his other eye.

Carl did not give up. He went to law school. The ADA helped in so far as they hired “readers” for him. I was one of his readers. Thankfully, I did not have to actually read boring textbooks to him. All his books came – eventually – as text files and I broke them into smaller bits with the reading assignments in separate files. I also helped with formatting his papers since the reader programs on the computer couldn’t help him with how they looked. I was happy to help because, as I said, he is my friend. He was at one time also a neighbor. He graduated in the top 10% of his law class. He passed the bar on the first time.

He is now a practicing attorney. But life is not going well for him right now. Nancy Haylor, a 58-year-old woman, was recommended to him for bookkeeping duties. He hired her. She has allegedly robbed his bank account of nearly $22,000 according to the local paper, the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. A Cleveland news show also aired his story.

I know that there are bad people in the world. I know that some people are not to be trusted. I know that those bad people cause undue hardship for the rest of us. I know that Carl could wallow in self-pity and never work again. Well, Carl really can’t because he is too motivated, too driven, too smart, too capable, and much too eager to make a contribution to the world.

I am just appalled that anyone would steal from an employer like this. Since Nancy’s disability is arthritis, Carl would bring her in lunch so she didn’t have to go out. I wonder if that was when she was writing out checks to herself. This is just so horribly wrong. I am furious that my friend was so ill-used. I am disgusted that someone would take advantage of a kind soul like this.

I wish there was a great moral to this story. I can’t think of one. I’m just so ticked. Carl, his wife, and their two daughters really don’t need this sort of aggravation. I hope that the legal system will help one of its own and require her to make restitution, at least. With interest would be better. Punitive damages would be icing on the cake. Sometimes life isn’t fair.