Brandon Bartholomew was dressed in a dark-gray wool suit,
white starched shirt, and purple tie, making it hard to tell he was
a thin man. His tortoiseshell glasses accented the ebony color of
his skin, eyes, and close-cropped graying hair. His demeanor was
serious—until he smiled like a morning sunrise.
Not readily apparent from his façade was what he had
overcome. As I later learned, Brandon’s father had died when he
was eight. His mother raised him on her nurse’s salary, but she also
died early in his life.
Brandon was fortunate to find activities such as science,
academics, and business that bolstered his spirit. He’d preferred
sports but grew to accept his limitations as an athlete. His backup
plan was to become highly educated and use his practical
knowledge to adopt nontraditional alternatives.
The week following Brandon’s presentation, the panel granted
his request for funding, and he was informed by email. After the
long Veterans Day weekend, I went in my office to catch up on a
stack of unread mail that had arrived before the holiday. Among
the credit-card offers, bills, and advertisements was a handwritten
note on personal stationery from Brandon Reddox Bartholomew.
“Thank you very much,” he wrote, “for giving financial support to
improve the way physicians serve impoverished patients in central
Mississippi.” He closed the letter with an invitation to visit him at
his home in Starkville, Mississippi.
The letter struck me as unusual. Most responses of gratitude
are staged and rather superfluous. They arrive on letterheads of the
receiving entity, addressed collectively to the entire panel. Why
had this man reached out with thanks in such a way?
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