The Cactus

“I asked Mel to present this award for me for a reason.

When I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encouraged me to find my faith. 

It didn’t have to be his or anyone else’s as long as it was rooted in forgiveness. 

And I couldn’t get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. 

He kept a roof over my head and food on the table and most importantly he said if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and embraced that part of my soul that was ugly — hugging the cactus he calls it — he said that if I hugged the cactus long enough, I’d become A Man of some substance.

So, I did, and it worked.

All he asked in return was that someday I help The Next Guy in some small way. 

...it’s reasonable to assume at the time he didn’t imagine the next guy would be him or that someday was tonight. 

So anyway on this special occasion and in light of the recent holidays, including   Columbus Day, I would ask that you join me, unless you are completely without sin in which case you picked the wrong f—ing industry, in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame. 

He’s hugged the cactus long enough.”