In the next ninety days, the Supremes will most probably be handing down important law regarding how prosecutors, and even defense attorneys, will be allowed to deal with the mass media while handling high-profile cases. It is a decision that is long overdue.

An incredible feeling was also generated by seeing both Nick Markowitz’s parents as well as Jesse Hollywood’s parents in attendance. I got to know these people pretty well through this ordeal, and I very much respect and appreciate the pain and anguish they’ve had to endure. Jack Hollywood seemed to take the intense circumstances all in stride, while the Markowitzes were as gracious as ever during our little chat after the court proceedings.

While working on the Alpha Dog and Stolen Boy projects, I also developed a pretty strong intuitive relationship with their son Nick, who was fifteen when he was kidnapped and murdered in August of 2000. At that time in his life, Nick’s parents should have been out buying him a car for his 16^th birthday. Instead, they bought him a casket. He would have been 23 years old this coming September. 

There is a saying that goes:

Life Is Short

but an entire lifetime to forget them.

I think this pretty much sums up my feelings about Nick Markowitz. He is someone who I truly will never forget. I will never forget this life-enhancing experience of discovering who he was in life and in death.

Personally, I’ve been involved in a lot of craziness. I’ve seen how my actions have created a lot of tension in my life, that I didn’t feel a true need to experience. At some point I came to the realization that things had to change. I had to change the reality that I manifested in my life. And to do this, I had to change who I was. I had to become what it was that I wanted to experience around me.

This whole process reminded me of some lyrics I listened to a lot when I was a kid, at the end of one of the Beatles’ songs from their Abbey Road album: “The love you take is equal to the love you make.”

For a long time I thought this was just really good stuff. If only I could figure out what exactly it meant. I mean, I knew all about hate and anger and fear and violence. I’d grown up with it. But what’s this thing they called love? Sounded like another four-letter word to me. And not the kind of four-letter word you might find in my book or the Goodfellas. But a four-letter word that’s more powerful than any other word in existence. Just thinking or saying it will make you feel better about yourself and life.

As Carol Fitzpatrick once said, “We are never to underestimate the power of love to flow through even the most immobile creations. Love is a powerful force because it is the very essence of who we are. Joy is the fuel. Love is the essence. Allow love to guide you in all matters of the heart and you will be led to joyful creations.”