WhatGoesAroundComesAround_DavisRob

during which I learned a great deal about the normalcy of human frailty
and imperfection, especially my own. I also had a lot of fun and made
some progress toward growing into the person I am today.
The cheating that Howard was referring to related to Jerry’s descent
into self-destructive behavior including alcohol abuse. It was as if he
had to see just how outrageous he could be and still be accepted. He
had to challenge everyone’s precept of what was acceptable.
Underneath it all, was a profound lack of self-esteem that he had just
begun sorting out at the time that we met.
Jerry had been earning a relatively high salary for some time. In spite
of this, he lived in a studio apartment in Greenwich Village, that could
only be described as rank squalor. I had occasion to visit him there
once and was shocked by what I encountered when I entered. The place
was covered with piles of clothes, towels, sheets, and whatnot
everywhere, all over the place. I’m not talking about neat piles. I’m
talking about heaps of dirty, wrinkled stuff.
Even that, however, did not prepare me for what greeted me when I had
to use the bathroom. Having run out of room to stack dirty dishes, pans,
partially eaten containers of Chinese food and the like, Jerry had
completely filled the bathtub and littered the floor with such things.
When I turned on the light, an army of cockroaches scurried for cover
and a shudder of disgust ran through me. I gasped, shocked all the
more because of his seeming indifference to the filth he was living in. I
quickly shut the bathroom door and explained that I would wait for him
at a restaurant down the street. He actually expressed dismay at my
squeamishness.
Another example of Jerry’s state was illustrated by a meeting we both
attended. It was a very hot day and the air conditioning had gone off.